Written by Nicholas Vetrisek
“I’m a lifelong Republican, but…” This has been the rallying cry for a new insufferable wing of the Democrat establishment that the Left has been ceaselessly promoting. As someone who lives with Democrats, I constantly hear how “principled Republicans” are leaving the GOP because of President Trump. But the truth is, I DON’T CARE and neither does anybody else.
The Left has been trotting out John Kasich and the members of the Lincoln Project as if the Republican Party was losing star players when they’re really clearing the bench.
The people recently brought on by the DNC are nobodies to most of the Right and annoyances to the rest. If the highest profile anti-Trump Republican is John Kasich, then the Party must be doing well. People like John Kasich are not given a moment of thought by the Republican Party and are not missed. The equivalent of this on the Left would be having Tom Steyer or Michael Bloomberg speak at the RNC to convince Democrats to vote for Trump. Sound convincing? Didn’t think so.
Kasich claims to want to return to the Republican Party of old, but no one else wants that. He is not referring to the Party of Eisenhower, Goldwater, and Reagan, which Trump actually seems to be pushing us towards. Instead, Kasich and other “Never Trumpers” want a return to the Party of John McCain, George H.W. Bush, and Mitt Romney. That Republican Party is a relic of the past, and rightfully so.
If anything, the Left picking up unwanted Republicans is a good thing for the GOP because it allows us to clean house. We’ve already gotten rid of John Bolton and Bill Kristol, and maybe Mitt Romney will be next. It sets the tone of the Party as clearly focused on ideals that help America, not Walmart or China as so many “corporate conservatives” have seemingly made the focus.
John Kasich is someone that neither cares about true conservative ideals, nor can he win elections. He is neither Barry Goldwater nor Richard Nixon. He is, as conservative commentator Michael Knowles calls him, a “squishy Republican.” Kasich is the best example because he was featured by the DNC, but there are certainly others. Neoconservative intellectual Bill Kristol is now a Democrat, along with Bush Administration Official Paul Wolfowitz. The two biggest proponents of the Iraq War have to leave because of their “principles?” That’s fine. The people leaving are all those who have weighed the Party down like a concrete block tied around its ankles in the middle of a raging sea.
In addition to clearing the bench and deporting neocons back to their original party, the optics really help President Trump and the new GOP. As the corporate shills and architects of the Iraq War leave in droves to the Democrats, it gives Republicans new support in the areas of union voters and the anti-war crowd. While the mainstream media can lie right now, the dust will soon settle and Trump will be recognized for what he is. The most peaceful president since Ford with the political savvy of Kissinger and concern for workers not seen since FDR—except Trump actually backs it up.
Because of Trump, future Republican Party leaders like Ron Desantis and Josh Hawley running the show, the Party can focus on what people like John Kasich chased away: the message. For decades, conservatives have taken “it’s the economy, stupid” to heart, but ignored almost everything else. They’ve run as the fiscal party, which alienated anyone that wasn’t Mitt Romney and as evidenced by the deficit, they couldn’t even do that right.
The Republican Party is a culture and a brand, not just a manifesto. Think about Richard Nixon, Dwight Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan. Each wholeheartedly defined their era with the tone they set. Even the Left understood this with Bill Clinton. Now compare that with the post-Reagan Republican Party until the election of Donald Trump, who is now defining the era—and the Party is stronger as a result.
Let the Left pick up the empty suits—they’re currently running one for president right now. Squishy Republicans leaving does not seem to have impacted the GOP given that Trump’s approval among Republicans remains just under 100%. In other words, we shouldn’t care about a few antiquated “Republicans” leaving the Party when we have a revived vision that puts America first.
