After beginning his 2018 Senate race against Beto O’Rourke with an 18-point lead, Ted Cruz only managed to squeak out a victory of 2.6 percentage points. In the end, it was the closest a Democrat came to toppling a Republican incumbent U.S. Senator since 1978 when John Tower won against Democrat Bob Krueger by half a percentage point.
Despite Cruz’s too-close-for-comfort victory, Republicans, the faux-conservative media, and even Donald Trump (a YUGE Cruz fan after the Texas Senator abandoned his principles to embrace him) hailed the win as proof that Texas is still “red,” and Trump will easily win the state in 2020.
Hyperbolic horse hockey!
The reality is Democrats had several state-level advances in Texas in 2018, so many that the Lone Star State is no longer considered “reliably red” according to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) who faces re-election in 2020.
“We are, I think, no longer the reliably red state we have been. We are at risk of turning purple. And if we don’t do our job, then we could turn blue in the coming years.”
Without realizing it, Cornyn has correctly diagnosed the problem. Texas — and many other states for that matter — have moved to the left because Republicans haven’t been doing their job. Specifically, they have abandoned the conservative values they claim to possess and have governed like Democrats.
Cornyn — who carries a 33% (F) Liberty Score® at Conservative Review — is a textbook example of why Republicans are facing certain extinction. However, the Trumpification of the GOP is playing a big part as well.
In the 2018 midterms, the GOP’s broken promises mixed with Trump consistently abysmal approval numbers led to the Blue Tsunami that gave Democrats their largest midterm victory since Watergate. And with 2020 on the horizon, both of these factors portend very dark days ahead for Republicans.
Recent polls continue to show Trump’s weak political standing, and Republicans fear, with his name at the top of the ticket, he will be the final nail in their well-deserved coffin. According to Republican analysts, the one common thread making this likely is Trump’s low approval and high disapproval numbers and the consistency of these numbers throughout his presidency.
I left the GOP during the Obama years because Republicans their promises and governed like Democrats. And since they’ve hitched their wagon to the Democrat with an “R” after his name currently occupying the White House, I remain #NeverTrump and #NeverGOP.
Red, blue or purple simply doesn’t matter anymore. Washington is run by the Unibrow Party now, and nothing short of a spiritual and political revival will change that sad reality.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative.
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