The New GOP
The GOP has transformed from the party of Reagan conservatism to the cult of Donald Trump. They have left their traditional ideals in the past and look to the future with a terrifying plan.
“I have concepts of a plan.”
Out of all the memorable one-liners from last night’s debate, that one stuck out to me. Why? It encapsulates what the GOP has become; once the party of Reagan conservatism, to the now MAGA cult of Donald Trump. A party that lacks practically any concrete plans for the future of our country, and one that prides itself on the contradiction of Democratic ideals.
The Presidential debate displayed the Republican Party’s lack of strong forethought for our nation. For almost every policy-related question asked, former President Trump provided lackluster answers; they primarily centered on the “horribleness” or the “radicalness” of Vice President Harris’s answer rather than providing his own solution. In fact, for almost every question, he attacked his opponent’s and his former opponent’s answers, rather than giving his own original thought. He purely argued that “_______” was a horrible idea and that it would ruin the country (even more than it already is according to him).
The few policy questions where he did provide a policy-related answer, besides the fact that they were quickly followed by a completely unrelated tangent, were vague and unclear. The former President said he had “concepts of a plan” to replace Obamacare, or that he would “get that [the conflict in the Middle East] settled and fast”, or that he will “get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended” without providing a way HOW he would. For his strongest topic against Harris, immigration, he simply didn’t provide a solution. When he was asked how he would enact his “historical deportation” of roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants, he answered with “they allowed criminals.”
Frankly, we all know Donald Trump doesn’t have the answers to these questions. But, the fearful reality is that almost nobody in the Republican Party has a real answer either. The party has completely fallen in line behind the ideology of one single man, and attacks any person who may even suggest the possibility of the invalidity of these ideals. Classic conservatives, such as Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, and Mitch McConnell have been completely overrun by the massive influx of radical MAGA. The virtue, honor, and integrity of American politics that once existed in this Golden Age of grand conservatism and noble liberalism has been lost in a new America that no longer possesses its previously known democracy.
Now, on MAGA, MAGA doesn’t really have its own ideology per se. Besides the racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and anti-intellect that the movement regularly preaches, it simply lacks policy. Most of the time, they point at what Democrats are saying, and just say the exact opposite; their policies are that the Democratic Party’s policies are bad. The policies of Reagan (really traditional) conservatism — cutting taxes, limiting federal oversight and regulations, increasing military spending, limiting non-military related government spending, free market capitalism, and more — has been lost in the MAGA movement. When was the last time you heard Trump talk about limiting federal spending? Or the free market? Yes, he quite often talks about taxes, but all he says is that he will get rid of them. The point is, true American conservatism has been lost in this new manifestation of the Grand Old Party.
I said before that the Republican Party had no answers to any questions. This isn’t entirely true. They do have answers, just the wrong ones. Project 2025. Project 2025, at its core, proposes the revision of some of the most key principles in our democracy; namely, checks and balances. The manifesto centers many of its plans around the Unitary Executive Theory; the theory that the opening clause of Section 1, Article II of the Constitution — “The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States” — grants the President complete autonomy and authority over the Executive Branch as a whole. It proposes that the ability to remove executive agencies or officers does not belong to Congress, but rather to the President.
The danger this proposal holds to our democracy cannot be understated. In its hand holds the key to the door that lets in tyranny and leads down the hall of anarchy.
The GOP has entered a new phase of its history, and in turn has formed a new American conservative identity. A victory for Donald Trump in November would be concerning, but more importantly, a victory for this new Republican Party could be catastrophic for the future of American democracy.
