Archive for the ‘Republican’ Category

The Virginia G.O.P. Voted on Its Future. The Losers Reject the Results. – The New York Times

On the second front, how a convention would work, Republicans are grappling with a state prohibition on most gatherings of more than 10 people. As a result, the party cannot conduct an in-person convention of several thousand people. Party leaders are trying to change their rules to allow for a convention held across dozens of sites in Virginia.

Doing so requires approval of three-fourths of the State Central Committees members a threshold so far impossible to meet because 31 of the committees 72 members are holding out for a primary. These Republicans are, in other words, trying to block the ability to have a convention in hopes that a primary will ultimately have to be held.

The fact that theres a minority faction who lost that are standing in the way of a safe convention to try to get the primary that they couldnt win fairly that says a lot about them, said Patti Lyman, the Republican national committeewoman for Virginia. All their arguments can be boiled down to: We lost, and we dont like it.

Ms. Chase, who was still arguing with less than a week left in Mr. Trumps presidency that he could yet be inaugurated for a second term, said Thursday that she doesnt trust conventions, which she said unfairly limit voting access for members of the military and others who cant make it to an in-person site.

If were going to win as Republicans, we need to include more of the electorate who vote Republican instead of less, she said. Stop creating so many obstacles for people who would normally vote.

Some proponents of a convention are arguing in favor of ranked-choice voting, a system that has been pushed elsewhere by progressives. The dispute threatens to undercut Republicans already-uphill fight in this years elections and prolong Democratic control of the state.

The partys squabble centers on a crowded group of Republican contenders for governor that includes one candidate each from the G.O.P.s Trump and establishment wings, along with two wealthy wild cards. The major candidates include Ms. Chase; Kirk Cox, a former State House speaker, who is the favorite of the partys elected state legislators; Pete Snyder, a millionaire technology executive who lost a bid for the lieutenant governor nomination at a party convention in 2013; and Glenn Youngkin, an even wealthier former chief executive in private equity who is a newcomer to politics.

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The Virginia G.O.P. Voted on Its Future. The Losers Reject the Results. - The New York Times

Top Texas Republicans on the ropes after tone-deaf storm response – POLITICO

Unmentioned by Perry: He was governor in 2011, when experts recommended winterizing the power grid. Perry went on to run for president in 2012, then was reelected governor two years later, ran unsuccessfully for president again in 2016 and served as then-President Donald Trumps secretary of Energy from 2017 to 2019.

George Seay, who served as finance chair for Perrys 2012 presidential bid, said that he opposes the finger-pointing over the storm response and believes Abbott is unfairly being attacked, but that the current governor needs to take some responsibility for the situation.

Leaders have to say, not only is this unacceptable, not only is it a dereliction of duty to Texas citizens and their public safety and the common good, but we have to fess up for that, Seay said. The governor is not a power generation expert, but he needs to raise his hand and say, Im responsible for this. Its not fair to him, to be clear, but thats the job.

Seay said Cruzs decision to slip off to Mexico only to announce his return when word leaked out and he drew harsh criticism wont harm him nearly as much as his role in opposing the Electoral College certification in Congress on Jan. 6, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol.

Is he focused on issues that center on the good of Texas? Not really. Hes focused on running for president in 2024 and political machinations, Seay said. The blame-seeking and circular firing squads were seeing is not helpful.

Democrats, meanwhile, seized the opportunity to contrast Republican leadership in Texas with President Joe Bidens administration, which quickly offered full federal help and earlier pitched plans to upgrade infrastructure, counter climate change and expand the use of renewable energy.

Whether its Abbotts failed response or Cruzs abandoning of our state, we shouldnt put people in charge of government who dont believe in government. They fail us every time, said former federal Housing Secretary Julin Castro, a Democrat whos considering a bid against Abbott or Cruz.

Cruzs short-circuited Cancun trip made him the biggest target of all. His habit of attacking politicians for taking time off during a disaster, his mocking of California for its power woes and his letter to Biden last week to keep the U.S.-Mexico border as closed as possible due to Covid have all come back to haunt him.

Democrats sought to heighten the contrast between Cruz and his 2018 Senate opponent, former Rep. Beto ORourke, by pointing out that the senator went to Cancun and tweeted about the death of radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh while his former rival stayed in El Paso and tried to marshal his social media followers to help fellow Texans.

Its extremely important in governing and politics to be seen doing things, said Brendan Steinhauser, a Texas Republican strategist. Its important to be seen leading.

Steinhauser said Abbott established himself as a leader in previous crises but took longer after the storm because he had to find his footing. At first, he probably didnt think the blackouts would last as long as they did.

Chris Perkins, a Republican data analyst and pollster in the state, said theres lots of anger and frustration to go around.

Theres no playbook because the state has never seen a winter like this in its history, Perkins said. The cities are saying to boil the water, but theres no water coming out of the faucet. Use gas to boil the water, but wells are freezing, so conserve gas. The state leaders are attempting to give the public the most updated information, but its difficult since there isnt a historical manual on what to do.

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Top Texas Republicans on the ropes after tone-deaf storm response - POLITICO

Opinion | Letter to a Young Republican – The New York Times

This week I received a moving note from a young friend of mine. In college, he realized he wanted to make a difference in this world by serving in government. His opinions leaned right, so the Republican Party became the vehicle for that service. Hes spent 10 years working his way up the Washington policy ladder.

But now he is dismayed by what the Republican Party has become. Hes disgusted by the whole political game. Hes thinking that maybe government is not where vital, meaningful work will take place over the next decades. He is in a career crisis, wondering if he should change the trajectory of his life. He asked for my advice:

Dear Young Republican,

I get it. Ive been increasingly dismayed and disgusted by the Republican Party since the moment Sarah Palin first stepped onto the national stage. My interests have shifted to those who are weaving the social fabric at the community level, and if you find a way to make a difference out of government, I salute you.

But we do face a political crisis in this country, and the Republican Party is the epicenter of that crisis. Destiny has placed you, all of you young Republicans, at the crucial spot in the line. We either have two responsible political parties in this country or we do not. And it will be reforming Republicans, with your energies and ideas, that determine the outcome.

The Republican Party is going to hold a lot of power in the years ahead. Even with a losing candidate at the top of the ticket, the GOP managed to pick up 12 House seats in 2020. It is possible that the Republicans will control the House and the Senate in just two years.

The Democrats have become the party of the educated metropolitan class. There will always be a lot of Americans who do not share the interests or values of that class and they tend to vote Republican.

The party is politically viable, but it is intellectually and morally bankrupt. Under Trump it became an apocalyptic personality cult. But you should know, as Im sure you do, that there are many Republicans who want to change their party and make it a vehicle for conservative ideas.

These people are energized as never before and feel their whole lives have been preparation for the coming moral, intellectual and political struggle. This is a struggle to create a Republican Party that is democratic and not authoritarian, patriotic and not nationalistic, conservative and not reactionary, benevolent and not belligerent, intellectually self-confident and not apocalyptic and dishonest.

But is it your struggle? I guess I would ask myself two questions: Are you dedicated to the ideas that are at the heart of current conservatism: the need to hold off the China threat; the need to restrain the power of cultural elites and centralized government; the need to build an economy that functions for the working class. Second, are you attached to actual Republicans? The conservative movement left an opening for Trump because it didnt understand what was on the mind of actual voters.

The party has the potential to be something truly good for America: a multiracial working- class coalition, a party that serves the interest of all those who dont fit in with the definition of the good life that is promulgated by the meritocracy. Its to be a champion for those who didnt complete college, dont want to leave their hometown for the big city, do have a set of traditional values centered around their faith.

To become that party, the G.O.P. has to displace the cultural circus with actual policymaking. Trumpism is a media strategy, not a political philosophy; its a bid to win endless attention and stoke enmity.

Republicans will beat Trumpism not by confronting it directly but by focusing on policymaking, by becoming a regular party once again. As Senator Ben Sasse put it, its to make the Republican Party about more than one dude. You may have noticed that this week, Mitt Romney and Tom Cotton are teaming up on an effort to raise the minimum wage and enforce immigration laws, two plans to boost working class wages. Thats what there needs to be more of.

Will this work? Is the Republican Party salvageable? Nobody knows. Right now Republicans are rallying around Trump because they believe Democrats and the media are going after him. Its pie in the sky to ask rank-and-file Republicans to denounce the man theyve clung to. But, as has been observed, we Americans dont solve our problems, we just leave them behind.

Suppose new leaders, issues and movements arose? Suppose the shows that premiered in the coming years seasons made the shows that premiered in 2016 look tired and pass. The party that moved from Theodore Roosevelt, to Calvin Coolidge to Dwight Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump is going to eventually move on once again. That future is waiting to be created.

Its not my struggle, and maybe its not your struggle. But it is certainly a noble way for the right people to spend their lives.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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Opinion | Letter to a Young Republican - The New York Times

The Birthplace of the Republican Party Buckles After Trump Nearly Blew Up the GOP – POLITICO

Bishop Sr. had seen a moment like this before, he said, when President Richard Nixon resigned. His parents kept a framed photograph of Richard and Pat Nixon on the wall behind the bar in their house. When Nixon left, he said, That really tore the party apart.

The comparison is imperfect. Nixon stepped down voluntarily; Trump lost by a wide electoral margin yet refused to concede. A disgraced Nixon didnt try to keep control over the party the way Trump is now doing. But he did bring a sense of national embarrassment that rocked the party back on its heels and eventually, after Nixon left the White House, Bishop Sr. said, everybody got over it. It took a few years for the Republicans to get reorganized, but they did. Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, just six years later.

I think its just waiting, he said. The next election comes, and people start focusing on that.

In Wisconsin, there are reasons to think that at least some segment of the Republican electorate is prepared to look past Trump. They may already have been looking past him in November. Of the states five Republican-held House seats, the Republican running and winning in each district in November outperformed Trump in his district. And Republicans fared relatively well down-ballot nationwide.

It is possible that, for general election purposes in future years, the rift in the party is overstated. Andrew Hitt, the Republican Party chair in Wisconsin, thinks so. If theres any disagreement, its about who youre going to support in the next [primary] election. That just seems like a very run-of-the-mill primary discussion, which happens all the time, and parties work through that, and have worked through that for decades.

Thats true. In Fond du Lac, the county clerk, Lisa Freiberg, recalled that right after Hillary Clintons surprising loss to Trump in 2016, it was the Democrats who appeared adrift. Eight years before that, with Barack Obamas election, Toney, the district attorney, remembered hearing the Republican Party was dead.

The anger and sense of division, he suggested, is partly just a symptom of a normal postelection reckoning. I would never judge any party based on what were seeing right now, he said.

For the next four years, Republicans will have a common foil in the White House. They are pushing, largely in unison, for new voting restrictions in states across the country. And in Wisconsin, theres Evers and his management of the coronavirus pandemic for Republicans to organize against.

Scott Walker, the Republican former governor of Wisconsin, predicts Republicans will find they have more in common than not. Like Bishop Sr., he likened the moment to the post-Nixon era, where you got different wedges of people in the movement.

As conservatives, weve just got to get back to the basics, Walker said. I think thats what they did in Ripon. The people who came together and called themselves Republicans in Ripon were of this core sense of not just being opposed to slavery, but of freedom, they were fundamentally about freedom.

Asked whether getting back to basics required Republicans to not only rally around common ideals but also give something up, Walker said, Well, well see. Who knows what ultimately happens with President Trump. Obviously hes going to be a factor. But how big of a factor?

One sign of how the party may find a way past its divisions came on Bishops lunch break one Friday in January. While on a walk, he got a call from Toney, the district attorney. Toney knew Bishop was under siege. But his opinion was that in local politics, the deeper relationships people have with one another even among those who disagree make it harder for people to stay mad.

It was a brief conversation, but on the phone that afternoon, Bishop and Toney talked about the party and about the Little White Schoolhouse in Ripon, the small, white frame structure with Birthplace of The Republican Party above the door.

We do have some special responsibility in being caretakers of the party, Toney said. And thats where we have to be united in bringing people together.

In fact, by mid-January, Bishop said the criticism he took immediately after the election was already waning. Talk about the election was, too. (Of the 15 Wisconsin state lawmakers who signed on to a Jan. 5 letter asking then-Vice President Mike Pence not to certify the election results, none responded to requests for comment for this article. Nor did Rep. Tom Tiffany, one of the two House members from Wisconsin who voted against certification. A spokesperson for the other, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, said he had no comment.) One night after dinner, Bishops wife asked him why he was being so quiet. He had been rethinking his decision to quit the chair role, and he told her I might be making the wrong decision. Bishop announced he was going to run for reelection, and he asked Toney to renominate him.

Nobody in Fond du Lac County knew what to expect when the county party met for its annual caucus in early February. Were the Trump loyalists going to mount a challenge to the local chair who dared to question their leader? Sam Kaufman, a county supervisor and the partys treasurer, had heard some grumblings in the background about having somebody else nominated for chairman. Freiberg, the county clerk, had picked up on discontent just hearsay, she said. In part for that reason, despite a gathering snowstorm, the meeting at the Sunset on the Water Grill and Bar, on the southeast shore of Lake Winnebago, drew a crowd.

And thennothing.

Bishop was reelected unanimously. No one even ran against him.

Kiser, the former supervisor who had left the voicemail for Bishop, still feels the same way about him. I think hes an idiot, he said.

But Kiser, a former vice chair of the party, had long ago pulled away from the party apparatus. And no one else stepped up to spearhead a challenge. Even among Bishops critics, Kaufman said, there was a recognition, that he is a dedicated, hard worker. Hes always just got his hands in it, under control.

Plus, Kaufman said, no one else wants it, I dont think. Its a lot of work.

Bishop was so moved that when he stood up to thank the room, someone asked him whether he was going to start crying.

It was after 10 p.m. when Bishop left the restaurant and climbed into his car. The wind was whipping snow in off the frozen lake. Driving back to Waupun on Highway 151, he said, So, Ive got the job for two more years.

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The Birthplace of the Republican Party Buckles After Trump Nearly Blew Up the GOP - POLITICO

Economic hardship and anxiety have accelerated the Republican Partys radicalization, experts say – The Boston Globe

It wasnt, of course. Lively ultimately realized that the QAnon theories were false, but only after hitting bottom last summer, when she destroyed a coronavirus mask display in a Target store and posted video of the incident that went viral.

Her experience highlights how economic hardship and anxiety have served as accelerants in the radicalization of the Republican Party, experts said, part of a complex mix that includes racism along with other factors such as sexism and xenophobia and long-simmering resentment of the expansion of the federal government.

And being out of work leaves many people angry, with the time to latch onto conspiracy theories and get involved in politics.

The economic component has brought QAnon to people who otherwise would never have been involved in it, said Lively, who sought treatment afterward and now disavows QAnon. Its exploded in popularity because people are desperate.

But researchers said the role of the economy in the rightward shift of many Republicans extends beyond the unemployment line, factoring into the insecurities of white Americans that began decades ago with the onset of globalization, as well as newly empowered people of color and women benefiting from the civil rights and feminist movements. They all helped fuel the Tea Party movement during the Great Recession, Donald Trumps presidential campaign, and the rise of QAnon during the trauma of the pandemic.

An analysis this month by The Washington Post found almost 60 percent of the people facing charges in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol had signs of financial problems over the past two decades, including bankruptcies and unpaid taxes.

We often see right-wing social movements when groups are experiencing economic loss, political loss, or status-based loss, said Rory McVeigh, a sociology professor at the University of Notre Dame and author of the 2019 book The Politics of Losing: Trump, the Klan, and the Mainstreaming of Resentment.

The uneven recovery from the Great Recession, with wealthier people and regions bouncing back more quickly than the rest of America, created the conditions for Trump to exploit in his 2016 run for president, he said. The median wealth of middle-income families declined by a third from 2007 to 2016, while upper-income families saw their median wealth increase by 10 percent, according to the Pew Research Center.

Why was the angry populist message resonating? Well, a lot of people didnt really benefit from the recovery, and Trump was able to . . . appeal to that population, McVeigh said. The economic-populism message infused with racism, infused with sexism, spoke directly to the monster that had grown in the Republican Party.

Experts caution not to overstate the impact of economic distress in radicalizing people. Some are just racists, resisting the diminished influence of white men in society.

The data and a lot of the literature would suggest its more cultural and racial than economic, said Antoine Banks, director of the Government and Politics Experimental Lab at the University of Maryland. Its not that economics wasnt there, but it wasnt the main fuel behind it.

Christopher Sebastian Parker, a professor of social justice and political science at the University of Washington who has studied the Tea Party movement and Trumps supporters, said complaints about economic circumstances are primarily just a cover for people who dont want to acknowledge their racism.

They feel like theyre losing their proprietary grip on America and its because of these rapid social changes, he said.

In December, Parker and Rachel M. Blum, an assistant political science professor at the University of Oklahoma, surveyed nearly 2,000 supporters of Trumps Make America Great Again movement whom they reached through social-media ads featuring the slogan. They found half had middle-class incomes and at least 60 percent were white, Christian, and male. The results echoed what Parker had found previously, including for his 2013 book, Change They Cant Believe In: The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America.

The Tea Party movement proclaimed that it had economic underpinnings. It began amid the deepening Great Recession and the 2008 financial crisis, as well as the election of Barack Obama as the nations first Black president. Many Americans who already were struggling as manufacturing jobs shifted overseas and technological skills became more crucial in the workplace found themselves in dire economic circumstances. They focused their frustrations on Washington, opposing the federal governments bank bailouts and Obamas push to expand access to health care.

The average Republican base voter is a middle-aged older white person, and the problem was their lives were changing, seemingly overnight. They were losing their jobs. They were losing their industries, said Joe Walsh, an Illinois Republican who rode the Tea Party wave into Congress in 2011. A lot of it was resentment at the way this 1954 life they loved was changing overnight.

Polls showed that many in the Tea Party movement believed the lie promoted by Trump and others that Obama was not born in the United States. Walsh acknowledged there was a racism component of the movement, but said he doesnt think it was the prevailing viewpoint.

Tea Party backers advocated reining in the federal government, which had shifted to full Democratic control in 2009, and reducing the national debt. But he said that Republicans, who gained the House majority in 2011 and the Senates in 2015 on the strength of Tea Party activism, were unable to enact the major changes the movement wanted. That opened the door for Trump to radicalize many of the activists amid a sluggish economic recovery, Walsh said.

Tea Party people around the country got disenchanted, and Trump tapped the economic impact that people were feeling, said Walsh, who lost reelection in 2012 after redistricting and launched a primary bid against Trump in 2019. This whole economic nationalist strand took over.

Former Tea Party supporters became some of Trumps biggest backers in his 2016 campaign and through his first year as president, the Pew Research Center found in 2019. And their concerns about government debt, which continued to rise under Trump, largely disappeared after he replaced Obama.

The insecurity is real in an economic sense, but the genius of Trumps populism was to tie it into a notion that theres an injustice, said Adam Hilton, an assistant professor of politics at Mount Holyoke College who has studied the relationships between social movements and political parties. He spoke to some legitimate and factually based questions about the economy, but also xenophobia and racism and immigration.

Some political scientists refer to the dynamic as status threat.

A Black president, an economic crisis, and massive forms of government intervention, Hilton said. That provided an opportunity for people to feel very nervous about living in a country that they dont seem to recognize anymore.

Lively said she didnt have time for politics before the pandemic and didnt even vote for president in 2016. She said she voted for Trump in November solely on the basis of the economy and his support for Israel.' But her views of him changed after the election.

I have found all of the shenanigans post-Nov. 3 to be absolutely ludicrous and quite frankly embarrassing for anybody who espouses any sort of conservative values, said Lively, who is writing a memoir titled You Cant Cancel Me The Story of My Life.

But during her darkest financial times last year, she was open to believing anything QAnon was espousing, she said.

The reason why QAnon started with weirdos in basements is because all of the normal people were out living their lives before the pandemic, and the pandemic completely changed the paradigm, she said. When people are employed and people are busy theres no time to be spending 10 hours a day watching conspiracy videos on YouTube.

Jim Puzzanghera can be reached at jim.puzzanghera@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter: @JimPuzzanghera.

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Economic hardship and anxiety have accelerated the Republican Partys radicalization, experts say - The Boston Globe