January 29, 2021

It seems to me that the Republican Party has lost its way and much of its identity.  Just for fun, I went back and did a quick review of the Republican Party platforms for the last four presidential elections.  As a reminder, John McCain was the Republican candidate in 2008, Mitt Romney was the Republican presidential candidate in 2012 and, of course, Donald Trump was the Republican presidential candidate in 2016 and 2020.  I have included links to the entire documents below.

There are some common themes throughout the platforms from 2008, 2012 and 2016 as you might expect – the need to lower taxes, the need to engage in free and fair international trade, the need to rein in fiscal spending and balance the budget, advocating against same-sex marriage and abortion and, last but not least, support for the Second Amendment and the ‘right to bear arms.’  All of the platforms were multi-page, somewhat detailed documents, that at least let everyone know what the driving principles behind the party were.  Even if you didn’t agree with the policies, you could at least read and understand them.

That was true up until 2020 when the Republican Party issued no platform after their convention.   The ‘platform’ was actually a Resolution adopted by the Republican Party.  It is about a page long and contains some interesting words.

 “WHEREAS, The RNC, had the Platform Committee been able to convene in 2020, would have undoubtedly unanimously agreed to reassert the Party’s strong support for President Donald Trump and his Administration; ⁴  

WHEREAS, The RNC enthusiastically supports President Trump and continues to reject “the policy positions of the Obama-Biden Administration, as well as those espoused by the Democratic National Committee today; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda; “⁴

There was also some verbiage in there about how unfair the media coverage was and it concluded by incorporating the platform developed in 2016.

The gist of the resolution was that the Republican Party whole-heartedly supported Donald Trump and whatever policies he put in place and whole-heartedly rejected anything coming out of the Obama administration.   So, over the period of a dozen years the Republican Party went from being to clearly articulate what they stood for to a party that looked a lot like a personality cult.  Many of Trump’s policies were in complete contravention to many of the platform planks that had been articulated in years past, but the Republican Party abandoned those principles in favor of ‘whatever Trump wants to do.’

Now that Trump is gone, the party has become a haven for all kinds of ‘interesting’ characters.  Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a newly minted Representative from Georgia has been linked to QAnon, has been captured on video harassing a survivor of the Parkland mass shooting, has falsely stated that the Sandy Hook massacre was ‘staged’, and ‘liked’ posts on her social media accounts calling for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to be stopped via a bullet to her head.  As her first act in Congress, she filed impeachment charges against Joe Biden alleging crimes that have already been debunked.  The Republican leadership not only have not yet spoken out against her egregious remarks, they awarded a seat on the Committee for Education and Labor.  Think about that.  A woman who has publicly stated that the Sandy Hook school shooting was ‘staged’ is now on the Committee for Education and Labor. 

And then there is Representative Lauren Boebert from Colorado who is insistent that she will carry her firearm into the House of Representatives Chamber.   She owns a bar, Shooters Grill, in Colorado where staff and patrons are actively encouraged to openly carry firearms.  She also has a nice record of arrests to add to her resume of qualifications for being an elected representative.⁵

Liz Cheney, the senior Congresswoman from Wyoming, who is the third most powerful Republican in the House, is now under attack by some of the young firebrands like Matt Gaetz because she dared speak out against Trump after the attacks on the Capitol.  He held a rally of MAGA supporters in Cheney’s home state of Wyoming to rail against her for speaking out against Trump.  In Arizona, the state Republican Party, led by Trump loyalist, Kelli Ward, censured Former Senator Jeff Flake, John McCain’s wife, Cindy McCain, and the Republican Governor Doug Ducey for speaking against Trump.  If those are not the signs of a personality cult, I don’t know what is.

This is the new face of the Republican Party.  The evolution, or more appropriately devolution, of the party is quite dramatic.  I suspect Ronald Reagan, both the Bushes, John McCain, and Mitt Romney would all agree that the Party seems to have lost its way.  Rather than being able to clearly articulate a vision for America based upon conservative principles and how to deal with all of the crises we face, they have waded further into the swamp of personalities, conspiracy theories, voter suppression legislation and rationalizing hypocrisy.  One can only wonder if they will ever find their way back or will push further into the swamp for the 2022 and 2024 elections. Just because Trump is no longer a resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, this roller coaster ride is far from over.

1. 2008 Republican Party Platform | The American Presidency Project (ucsb.edu)
2. 2012 Republican Party Platform | The American Presidency Project (ucsb.edu)
3. 2016 Republican Party Platform | The American Presidency Project (ucsb.edu)
4. PDF File (gop.com)
5. GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert and husband have racked up arrests (nypost.com)