Arizona’s Junior Senator, “Republican” Jeff Flake, admitted yesterday that he couldn’t win a primary, adding
The bottom line is if I were to run a campaign that I could be proud of, and where I didn’t have to cozy up to the president and his positions or his behavior, I could not win in a Republican primary.
Essentially, Senator Flake is choosing exile over trial by combat. I get it. If you’re pretty certain that you are going to lose, then it makes sense to bail; but there is something deeper going on here. More and more moderates are taking to the sidelines, hoping to wait out Trump in the hinterlands until such time as they feel it safe to return and to return the Republican Party back to the business of doing business.
They seem to understand that President Donald Trump and his burgeoning army of populists, nationalists, and patriotic ex-NFL football fans are the new Republican Party. The moderates, libertarians, and conservatives have lost whatever power they had.
Trump is the Republican Party.
Yet, why choose exile? This makes no sense to me. Why not fight?
Are moderates so disgusted by conservatives and libertarians that they would rather choose exile than consensus building? Are moderates so disgusted by conservatives and libertarians that they would rather turn over the entirety of the Republican Party to populism out of spite?
Who are the real Burn It To The Grounders here? Flake knows that Trump won’t find anyone able to win a statewide race in Arizona. Flake knows that the Democrats are going to pick up the seat and that it will likely, eventually, cost the Republican Party the Senate. He’s not falling on a grenade here. He’s throwing one right into the center of Mitch McConnell’s office.
And what are Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee doing to build consensus with the moderates in the Senate? Compromise isn’t complicated. The area between the principles on which each individual Republican Senator is unwilling to compromise and the Republican Party’s end goal, is a bill that can pass with 50 votes.
Imperfect legislation…
Well, I guess Senator Rand Paul is out. Damn.
The Republican Party cannot survive populism or fracture. Today’s populism will lead to new populisms, each one asserting that it is the government’s job to perform some new role, to deliver some new justice, to protect some new market, or industry, or business. Nationalism is great. I love America as much as anyone, but global stability and international diplomacy requires work. We can’t achieve peace by waving flags. We cannot water the seeds of capitalism in the world by chanting, “America First!”
Moderates, Conservatives, and Constitutionally-motivated Libertarians need to join together to preserve the intellectual history and integrity of the Republican Party, setting aside our century-old ideological differences.
Exile and acquiescence aren’t intelligent or viable options.
Besides, Senator Flake, President Trump is accomplishing a great deal of good. Sure, it’s hard to see behind the haze of his monosyllabic tweets and imbecilic behavior – but it’s there just the same. It wasn’t Trump that failed us on repealing Obamacare. Trump gave us Gorsuch. Trump undid much of the damaging regulations imposed on American businesses by President Obama. Trump returned the military to the best wisdom of his military commanders and ISIS is being swept away in the wake of such a profoundly important executive decision.
Moderates, Conservatives, and Libertarians need to band together and reassure the American People that 500 years of Conservative Tradition hasn’t been defeated by populism and histrionics. We need to ensure that the good things Trump does become entrenched and that the stupid things Trump says are quickly dismissed.
Now is the time to hunker down and focus, not pack it in and head home.
