The Republican Party needs a divorce from the cult of Donald Trump
Like much of the nation I spent Wednesday, Jan. 6 vacillating between abject horror and seething rage at the sacking of the U.S. Capitol by a mob that was incited to violence by the 45th President of our United States.
I have spent the bulk of my adult life working to help promote the Republican Party and its values. That’s why I was particularly angered that people motivated by ludicrous conspiracy theories, a President with no grasp on reality, and a few self-serving members of Congress attacked the Capitol while claiming to be Republicans.
Let me say this in no uncertain terms: After what happened at the Capitol, you can support Donald Trump or you can be a Republican but, in my eyes, you can’t be both.
To be clear, I’m not talking about his policies. Historically, the Republican Party has been the big-tent party, a loose coalition of people bound more by a desire for government to leave them alone than by a single defining issue. There is no purity test for being a Republican, just a devotion to personal responsibility.
No, I’m talking about the man himself, who has cultivated a cult-like status among many in my party. The Republican Party is not the party of hero worship and demagoguery. If you have put support for a two-bit, wannabe dictator above the core values of the party, you are not a Republican. The President’s rhetoric of hate has only one driving principle: anyone who disagrees with me is evil and wrong. That ideal is neither Republican nor American.
So, what is a Republican? I’ll give you my thoughts, though I’m far from the final arbiter.
To me, being a Republican means respecting the Constitution; believing in the entire Bill of Rights and the idea that infringing upon one weakens them all.
It means believing government has a place in our lives, just not a starring one. As we’ve learned all too well this past year, government has a key role in times of national crisis. However, unnecessary regulation and wasteful spending in ordinary times drains the coffers and leaves government woefully short on resources when times get tough.
Being a Republican means believing in American Exceptionalism; that regardless of gender, race, creed, sexual orientation, nationality, or socio-economic background the United States of America is the one place in the world where, if you work hard and respect others, you have a fair chance to make your life better.
To me, being a Republican means a devotion to free markets and free trade. Thomas Friedman once called it the Golden Arches doctrine, the idea that no two countries that both have McDonald’s have ever gone to war. Free trade doesn’t just export goods, it exports democracy and that’s good for us all.
Finally, and I think most important to me, being a Republican means believing in the innate good of humanity. Democrats believe, given the option, man will do wrong, therefore, they must be regulated; we believe people will do what’s right, even if it may take a while.
It’s this last part that disappoints me most about our current predicament. Donald Trump played on our belief in humanity to feed his own narcissistic ends. When Democrats say: “We told you he wouldn’t get better, why didn’t you believe us?” the answer is because it’s ingrained into Republican’s DNA to believe that people will eventually do the right thing. In this instance, the President let us down.
With that said, I refuse to allow Donald Trump to damage my faith in humanity or the Republican Party. I look forward to helping exorcise the demons he has awoken and moving the party forward for the good of the state and nation I hold dear.
Tres Watson is the founder of Capitol Reins PR and co-host of the Kentucky Politics Weekly Podcast.