Four months after Senator Joe McCarthy first mentioned his infamous blacklist in 1950, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith—a Republican, like McCarthy—delivered her famous “Declaration of Conscience” speech in which she argued all Americans should choose principle over party. Though the Democrats had “lost the confidence of the American people,” Senator Smith argued that beating the Democrats only to replace them with “a Republican regime embracing a philosophy that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty would prove equally disastrous.”
Senator Smith’s speech was endorsed by six other Republicans; today, you would struggle to find a single one who would choose principle over party—or even party over Trump.
It’s not too late. Despite the fact that Trump has a 38-point lead in the Presidential primary and no Republican has ever come back from even a 20 point gap at this stage, there is still a way for the Party to break its nasty bout of Trump fever. It would take three simple steps:
The first step to choosing country over Trump would be for Republicans to recognize that there’s actually a substantial and increasing anti-Trump opening in the Republican electorate. Despite the media narrative of a GOP locked in for Trump, the truth is that only 37 percent are solidly with him, while an equal 37 percent of Republican voters are open to alternatives. With 25 percent of the party already against Trump in the primary, up to 62 percent of the Republican electorate is up for grabs.
The second step would be for Republicans to figure out what message would move those persuadable voters. Fortunately, that’s easy, because they’re already telling us: The thing that most reliably makes Republican voters turn on Trump is his criminality. The proportion of Republicans who say Trump did “nothing wrong” in the four criminal cases against him has been dropping all year, down to a paltry 16 percent. After years of erratic behavior, ugly schoolyard abuse, cruelty, policy failures, and lying, these cases are breaking through and driving Republicans away.
Step Three to breaking Trump’s hold on the GOP electorate would be for Republicans to identify the obstacle keeping these persuadable Republicans from dropping Trump altogether—and then overcome it by hammering home how little he reflects the champion they thought he was.
This would be a departure from their current pattern of boosting Trump when he’s down. In Greek myth, the Titan Antaeus renewed his strength whenever he touched the ground. Any time you started to beat him down, he got a recharge. Right now, the leadership of the Republican Party is Trump’s superpower, recharging him by backing up his false “I’m-the-victim of a witch hunt” narrative whenever the media questions it. They’re no doubt reflecting the polls: 80 percent of persuadable Republican voters who believe Trump did something wrong still tell pollsters that the Party needs to back him, which is why Republican candidates are still so spooked that they cast out anyone who criticizes the dear leader. It’s why pollsters are telling Florida Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis to defend Trump.
Republicans need to stop following polls and start leading. If voters stop seeing trusted voices intoning support for Trump like some Manchurian Candidate, they’ll stop expecting it.
The good news is there is a way to break this wheel. A broad group of party leaders and funders loudly and forcefully banding together could accomplish a lot, breaking the red wall of talking heads that reinforces the protect-Trump-at-all-costs media line, supporting and funding politicians for offices who oppose Trump, and most importantly, giving a psychological permission structure for persuadable Republicans to take the crucial final step away.
Of course, most current office holders won’t jump on board at first, nor will most of the candidates currently running for president; they are hoping that they can sit quietly while others take the hit, and the meek shall inherit the MAGAs. But that still leaves plenty of powerful Republicans who could show a little backbone. And much in the way Senator Smith and her six co-signers created the space for opposition to McCarthy that eventually led to his downfall, a coordinated, credible, and committed Anti-Trump GOP movement could eventually embolden finger-in-the-wind politicians like Kevin McCarthy to finally break free.
The bottom line is this: There are enough voters, there is a strong message, and there is a way to crack Trump’s protective shield.
Republicans should care about wresting their party away from the clutches of a man whose attorneys are portraying as too deranged to be criminally accountable (seriously, that’s their January 6 argument). If Republican leaders don’t stand up to Trump now, they will rightfully be judged by history as complicit in his assault on the American constitution.
As for Democrats, they should want the GOP to choose a better candidate—even if it means choosing a stronger one. Like Solomon, we should rather see our baby in someone else’s hands than to split it.
The clock is ticking: The early primaries are under five months away, and the stakes are high. Failure would be as disastrous for Republicans as it is dangerous for the country.
Matt Robison is a writer, podcast host, and former congressional staffer. Alicia Preston is a New Hampshire-based Republican political consultant.
Source: NewsWeek
