But, is this really possible? Recently, the Republican party lost two seats in Georgia. The losses that the Republican party have suffered may be the direct consequences of the divisive rhetoric of the Trump era. Additionally, the recent bipartisan impeachment highlights the weakness of the GOP. Where does this leave the Republican Party? All of this points to the fact that the GOP will need to strengthen their party away from the ideals that the Trump presidency has highlighted. This may mean returning to the traditional conservative ideals that some have let go of: ideas like limited government and low taxes.
Speeches about it being the time for healing and unity that have been continuously spread by Republicans since the riot may play a huge role in what the GOP will attempt to accomplish following the end of the Trump era. However, many will not be fooled by these Senators and other public officials since their critics are focused on the hypocrisy they are displaying after they condoned Trump’s actions for 4 years.
As of now, we must look to what will pan out in the upcoming weeks. According to the NPR article, a Republican pollster discovered that “43% of Trump voters say they would definitely vote against any lawmaker who supports impeachment.” The impact of this on Republican Senators and the future of the GOP are undetermined. As Don Jr. said: "This is Donald Trump's Republican Party."
Do you think it will be possible for Republicans to ignore what has occurred over the past 4 years?
What necessary steps do you think the GOP must take?
4 comments:
I do not think that Republicans can just ignore the last 4 years, simply because Trump has been a driving force in dividing this country, and it will take time to fix what he has done during his presidency. However, I do think Biden can do some things to ease the Republican's feelings of animosity towards anything the Democratic party does. In terms of Covid, I think that he should not enforce anything too restrictive (like suggesting another lockdown) if he doesn't want Republicans who still support Trump to act out in response to that or anything similar (while a lockdown is what this country needs in my opinion). Additionally, if there are attempts for compromise on different issues from the Democratic party, I think that could also help regain trust from Republicans who were told by Trump that Democrats were/are not on their side. I hope that there is less polarization during Biden's presidency as more seats for the House of Reps will be up for election, and if there is still great division, then it may be possible that Biden's attempts to do anything will be blocked (in a situation where more seats go to Republicans, as seen during the 2020 elections where House of Rep seats in Orange County went to Republicans after being blue).
Similar to what Veronica said, I don't think that Republicans can go ahead and ignore what they avidly supported for the past four years. This really was Trump's Republican Party, because he divided the country and brought out sides of people that haven't been as visible in the past decade or so. Trump's election and his actions drew out hate groups and white supremacists, which he did not condemn/denounce clearly many a times, and literally two weeks ago, he incited and encouraged people to storm the Capitol. In general, his entire campaign was openly racist, and now that many Republicans have seemed to support this blatant racism, I don't think there is an easy way to recover from what they have (and have not) supported. Biden will have to work extra hard to be moderate if he wants to bring the country together from Trump's division, and to get any support from the "retrumplicans." This is not entirely on the Democratic party though, to pull the country together: at the very least, the GOP has to begin compromising.
I agree with the previous commenters, that it would be pretty difficult for Republicans as a whole to ignore and move past these four-years under Trump, but I do believe their will be some division and or splitting of the party. In a recent NPR interview with former PA Republican congressman Ryan Costello, he brought up the part of the party known as "RINO." RINO means Republican in name only, it "used to be" somebody that was a registered Republican but would either split their ticket or vote more Democratic. He claims that RINO under Trump has come to include anyone who would not do whatever "Donald Trump wants you to do or say." Thus Republicans critical of Trump are still a part of the party and would likely want to see a return to more traditional Republican values and to distance themselves from the extreme Pro-Trump ones. This is not an easy feat, especially since there are a sizeable number of Republicans that still support Trump. Nonetheless I agree with Mr. Costello who says that unless the Republican Party denounces Trump in explicit terms, "you are destined to be a minority party." I hope for the sake of political compromise and less polarized politics, the Republican Party will renounce Trump, but I do not see that happening quickly or lightly with so many die hard supporters of Trump high up in the GOP Party.
https://www.npr.org/2021/01/16/957593493/the-republican-party-after-trump
I am of the opinion that the republican party may split between the trump supporters and the traditional republicans. I think that split between republicans would both be good to distance themselves from trump and also help work to bring back moderates. I feel that the split allowed for two powerful parties to form. But the parties would probably last a few year as eventually the former republican party would reform. Personal I don't saying trump ever happened is a good idea, but maybe they kick trump out of the republican party.
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