Conventional wisdom is that after an election the victorious party soon devolves into intra-party squabbling while the losing party unifies to oppose the victors. Pundits have been beating their gums, augmenting real and imagined differences between moderate and progressive Democrats.
Instead, it is the Republican Party that is wrestling with the question “Is this Trump’s Republican Party, or will it revert to ‘The Party of Lincoln?’” Forget it — it hasn’t been the “Party of Lincoln” for at least sixty years.
Some wrenching twists going on within the GOP include reaction to the January 6 violent and deadly invasion of the Capitol, subsequent impeachment hearings, Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney’s controversial vote to impeach, and the House reaction to Georgia Representative Greene’s deranged conspiracy rants.
On January 6, terrorists had actually constructed gallows on the Capitol grounds before crashing in, shouting “hang Mike Pence.” Law makers and staff took refuge and feared for their lives as rioters shouted, “Where’s Nancy?”
With Trump’s words urging angry armed goons to “fight hard, take back your country,” immediately preceding the invasion, some Republicans are struggling to distance themselves from him. Others urge that “We should just move on — forget it.”
The most preposterous weasel words are that the rioters were really “ANTIFA members in disguise.” So why voters celebrating victory raid the Capitol to “overturn an election” that Biden had already won? But then, logic has not much to do with this.
Some apologists resort to the “freedom of speech,” defense — as if Trump’s cry to “fight to take back your country,” had nothing to do with the armed mob actually storming the Capitol. With freedom, goes responsibility — but apparently that doesn’t apply here. Others argue that it is unconstitutional to impeach a president once he leaves office.
What is obvious is that the invasion of the Capitol was such a horrifying spectacle that Senate Republican decision makers are in a tough spot — they would rather not be saddled with a vote to convict or acquit. An off-ramp with which they could (possibly) safely distance themselves from Trump and the insurgency, while not offending Trump’s supporters, would be the desired “solution” to their self-made dilemma. But if there is any justice in this world, Republicans who have enabled, tolerated, and supported Trump will have to face the music, and vote to convict or acquit.
Only ten House Republicans voted to impeach. Liz Cheney’s vote to impeach brought about censure by her home state Wyoming Republicans, and calls to remover her from her third most powerful position in the House Republican Caucus.
Newly elected Georgia Congresswoman Greene is gaining notoriety with her unhinged, wildly conspiratorial rants, including denying realities of 9/11, charges of Democratic pedophilia, and other QAnon conspiracy theories — in addition to urging execution of prominent Democrats. This is yet another awkward spot for Republicans who gave her a round of applause for what passed as an “explanation.” Former Iowa Congressman, Steve King, was stripped of committee assignments by his own Republicans for far less egregious words.
While Greene’s call for violence against her own colleagues was too much for Democrats, Republicans, including Liz Cheney, voted to support Greene to retain her committee assignments. Cheney’s vote to support Greene was no doubt necessary for retention of her position as House Minority Whip. Although forgiven by her Republican congressional colleagues for her impeachment vote, rank-and-file Wyoming Republicans were less forgiving. This divergence of rank-and-file vs. establishment Republicans illustrates the GOP dilemma. In the countryside, the GOP is still Trump’s Republican Party.
It’s easy, perhaps too easy, for the usual suspects of the chattering class and establishment Republicans to blame the state of the GOP on Donald Trump. In fact, the Republican Party has been inexorably heading in this direction since the mid-1960s. Trump simply saw the direction the parade was heading and jumped in front of it, leading it to its current cliff’s edge.
African Americans once traditionally leaned toward “The Party of Lincoln.” Kennedy’s overtures toward African Americans in 1960 led to LBJ muscling through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. With this, along with Barry Goldwater’s opposition to that historic legislation, LBJ realized that this would turn the White South to Republican for “a generation,” a correct prediction that lasted far longer.
Richard Nixon followed with his “Southern strategy” to get Republican votes. In 1980 Ronald Reagan campaigned in Neshoba County, Mississippi, near the site of the murder of three civil rights victims, emphasizing “states’ rights.” That’s code for “you white southern boys can do whatever you want — I’ll stay out of your way.” Reagan also dismissed the federal government as “the problem, not the solution.” Dismissing the work of civil servants was a convenient precursor for Trump to denigrate them as “the deep state.”
Even the gentlemanly H.W. Bush was not above stoking fear of Blacks with the “Willie Horton revolving door” theme to overcome the early lead of Michael Dukakis in 1978.
The Newt Gingrich era during which he encouraged a “take no prisoners” approach, unapologetically trashing political opponents as “the enemy,” led to politics becoming ever more uncivil.
Trump dragged it to an ever-lower level by delegitimizing our first Black president as “having been born in Kenya.” Racist tropes once characterized as “dog whistle,” became thunderous bull horn.
The Supreme Court’s gutting of the 1965 Voting Rights Act led to renewed Republican efforts to suppress Democratic votes in states of the old Confederacy, and northern states, including Wisconsin.
Democrats insisted that voting should be made safer during the pandemic. Republicans insisted that this would enable fraud, and these votes would be “illegal.” From there, it’s a short step — “the election was fraudulent, stolen.”
Trump didn’t start the fire — he poured gasoline on flames already burning.
No longer “The Party of Lincoln,” it hasn’t been for sixty years. The “Grand Old Party” is not so grand these days. At least for now, Trump is still the boss of the Republican Party.
— John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Saturdays in the Monroe Times.
