Donald Trump is our nominee — now what?
With Donald Trump’s coronation as the Republican presidential nominee all but complete, my disposition has transitioned from denial to disbelief and, now, to despair. (Admittedly, the despair may have set in a bit earlier as I stood in a Miami suburb watching Marco Rubio attempt to salvage an unsalvageable Florida primary from a bullhorn on the back of a Ford truck . . .) But — the pangs of primary defeat seem pale in comparison to the nausea that grips me now.
And, as a young conservative, I’m not alone. Over recent months, I’ve received countless texts, phone calls, and social media posts from colleagues and friends who can’t understand how all of this happened. “Is this really the country we’re inheriting?” The conservatives among them fear that our principles have been lost to a populist/nationalist tide and that there will be no Party for our generation to lead. The liberals express genuine concern that the Republican counterweight in our political discourse has become unhinged. I’m not sure I am able to grasp things any better than my peers, but I offer this reflection up as a constructive framing of the problem and a potential path forward.
In my view, the fruitful inquiry isn’t whether to vote for Trump or for Clinton. Both will come with their own set of problems and we should be prepared to elect a new president in 2020 anyway — no matter who wins. So, hold your nose like most of the country will do and pull the lever however you see fit. The real challenge is figuring out how we lost the Republican Party and how conservatism as a viable governing ideology can be revived before 2018 and 2020 roll around.
The Road to Trump: Understanding the Problem
What once appeared to be a farcical publicity stunt parading down a gold-plated Manhattan escalator has quickly and not-so-quietly evolved into a populist movement that has upended my Party and the conservative principles it purports to defend. Watching the circus unfold in Cleveland, my many thoughts center on one inquiry: how has it come to this?
And, yet, that really isn’t the difficult question. Despite the insincere (or, perhaps more likely, tin-eared) head-scratching of the pundit class, the ingredients of Trump’s rise are easy to make out.
Broadly speaking, the American people are weary of Washington. Not weary in the generic, talking-point sense of opposing anything and everything having to do with the federal government, but weary in the sense that government and its policies haven’t actually delivered any tangible improvements in their lives.
An objective observer should quickly see why. President Obama promised “hope” and “change” to a people yearning for unity and growth in the face of war and recession. Eight years on, little progress has been made on either front. ISIS has replaced al Qaeda as a global purveyor of terror, instability ripples through the Middle East from Iraq, to Syria, to now Turkey, and millions of Americans face stagnant incomes amid a bleak job market. On top of that, racial tensions have left Americans of all races and creeds fearful of new domestic sources of violence. Put simply, Americans are tired of walking uphill and need little convincing to try something new.
The Republican Party itself has also aided Trump. The chief culprit: division between an established elite that discounted for too long the legitimate grievances of the Party’s conservative lifeblood and the activist groups and talking heads that sowed this division to capitalize on intraparty discord. As scripture tells us in Matthew, a house divided against itself cannot stand. The divided GOP was a ripe breeding ground for a Trump-led populist revolt against both strands of the Party. As the captains of the Republican Party fought at the ship’s wheel, Trump turned the crew against the bickering lot and co-opted the vessel as his own.
The problem, of course, is that no one bothered to ask where Trump planned to steer the ship — or, if he even knew how! Such are the pitfalls of a Party faithful so disillusioned with its leadership that anything new is by definition an improvement. Yet, it’s also a necessary consequence of a Party lacking clear vision. While the Establishment and the Tea Party bickered, the conservative blueprint for governing devolved into a reflexive set of opposition stances. In the wake of Obama’s election, being a Republican quickly became about what you were against rather than what you were for. In the process, conservatives lost all sense of who we were and the broader American public simply didn’t know what they would get if they supported us — other than, of course, repeal of everything Obama managed to pass.
This — namely, the lack of a comprehensive governing vision — has been the principal ill of the Republican Party — not Donald Trump. Trump is a symptom, a side-effect, a hangover. He doesn’t have the power to alter conservatism — only to suppress it. That’s why the Republican leaders who have signed on to his team don’t cite Trump’s agenda as the reason. Instead, Republican support for Trump is all about Republican opposition to Hillary. And, why shouldn’t it be? For eight years, pure opposition to the Democrat is all that Republican primary voters have demanded.
The indifference to substantive policy within the Republican Party has allowed the following logic to take hold: An expensive and ineffective border wall? “Sure, why not?” A ban on Muslims? “Whatever.” Protectionist tariffs? “Fine. All fine — so long as we get to vote against Hillary Clinton.”
This indifference within our Party must end. It divides us and makes it harder to beat back the growth of liberalism in America. It’s also what prevents us from winning national elections.
The Path Forward: Fixing the Problem
This begs the second, more perplexing inquiry: where do we go from here? The answer has to begin with the realization that our problems predated Trump, that they are larger than Trump. The solution isn’t simply replacing Donald Trump with a Ted Cruz or a Marco Rubio or a Paul Ryan. The solution requires a complete refresh of the Party’s message and leadership in Washington.
The Grand Old Party needs to become the Grand New Party — with new ideas, new messaging, and — most critically — new leaders. Without new leaders, the same intraparty subgroups will too easily form around the next crop of contenders seeking to seize control of the GOP ship. This zero-sum dynamic has to end.
As for the new ideas, they should focus on our principles and lay out a positive governing agenda. New leaders ought to offer results-oriented solutions to the biggest issues we face as a nation. The new GOP has to be a Party that talks about ideas, not tactics. Policy, not politics.
These positive reforms aren’t hard to name, but may seem hard to remember after hearing so little of them over the past few years. To name just a few:
Comprehensive tax reform that lowers rates and closes corporate loopholes for big business.
Education reform that empowers parents to pick the right school for their child and gives every student an opportunity to succeed.
Infrastructure reform that rationalizes wasteful government spending on pet projects and focuses on rebuilding the nation’s highways and bridges.
Increased energy production that encourages America’s energy boom while remaining environmentally responsible through private oversight.
A strong defense that protects the US and its allies when the national interest is at stake by stabilizing turmoil in the world and combating our enemies with resolve.
Limited government that stays within the scope of powers granted to it by the Constitution.
Be Part of the Solution
Ultimately, none of this will happen without a new crop of conservative leaders standing up to lead the Party in a new direction. We need the next generation to stand up and start running for office. They need to come from all professional backgrounds and walks of life — business and agriculture, rich and poor, north and south — everywhere.
I know they are out there, because I know them. They are my friends and colleagues — fellow law students that just graduated, my former consulting colleagues, friends that are currently serving in our armed forces, leaders of family businesses back home in Texas. These are the future leaders of the new Republican Party. They are independent, innovative, and anti-hierarchical. They see value in merit and don’t like waiting in line. They are the solution to the problems we face.
It’s time we stopped waiting for the party leaders and politicians that have already failed us, to run and fail us again. They gave us Trump. Establishment and Tea Party alike. They aren’t going to succeed, or make America great again, or anything of the sort.
We’re going to have to do it ourselves.
