The Republican and Democratic National Committees are responsible for nominating the persons who will campaign for President of the United States. It’s by far their most important function. In a democracy with a two-party system, it’s extremely important that the best, most capable people possible are nominated. Judging from the Committee websites, however, nominating a Presidential candidate is not their major or primary concern. In fact, their Presidential nominating role is not mentioned on the website of either Party.
The Democrats will nominate Joe Biden or, if he can’t or won’t run, Kamala Harris. Not much for their Committee to do except get out their rubber stamp. This article, however, is about the Republicans.
That ripping sound you are hearing is not just your shirt being torn off your back by inflation and high energy prices, it’s also the sound of the Republican Party tearing itself apart. Over Trump. The Republican rift is now out in the open since their National Committee has voted to censure Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger just for being on the Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capital Insurrection. Not only did the Committee censure these two members, they also said that the January 6 rioters were merely engaged in “legitimate political discourse”, a phrase that now will surely live in infamy.
The Republican rift is a very one-sided affair. Far more National Committee members are Trump supports than the eight or ten, including Mitt Romney, who have so far been willing to oppose him openly.
Who is the Republican National Committee? It’s 168 of the Republican top tier, mostly Senators and Congress men and women who are chairs of various Republican committees. Think Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, John Thune (their Senator whip), and Steve Scalise (their House whip). The Committee Chair is Ronna Romney McDaniel, a strong Trump supporter. She is a niece of Mitt Romney, which must make for interesting family dinners.
Though the website of the Republican National Committee does not mention the nominating process, you can bet a lot of the members are thinking about it. They will most probably do like they did last time. That is, have primaries, count primary votes, have a debate or two, and nominate Donald Trump. That way, the Committee can absolve itself of responsibility for the nomination by saying it was done democratically by a majority of Republican primary voters, who will be a small percentage of all American voters.
But the National Committee is responsible. They are in charge, Trump will be their nominee, and we conservatives without a party will again have no one to vote for.
Nothing is certain, of course, but Trump will very likely be the Republican nominee. He appears to have enough support to win Republican primaries. If he is the nominee, then one way or another, he has a chance of becoming President.
To me, this is unacceptable. Never mind that some of his policies are acceptable to some conservatives (even me), Trump is just not the kind of person who should be President of the United States. We can do much better than Trump; we must do much better than Trump.
We knew from the start that he is narcissistic, not at all intelligent, not thoughtful, and not well educated. But we didn’t know he is an autocracy sympathizer, probably even an autocrat himself. His respect and admiration for Putin is astonishing. Oh, we must do way better than Trump.
However, the Republican National Committee is so dominated by Trumpers– I call them dispicables – that they surely will nominate him. The real conservatives, the non-Trumpers – Cheney, Kinzinger, Romney, Pence, and a few others – are marginalized now so they can only serve their country by forming a third party and nominating someone else: a good person. a smart person, a person of honesty and integrity, a leader who can unite us, save our democracy, and get us out of the various messes we are in.
The new party should call itself The Conservative Party.
Whoa, you say! A third party means the Republican vote will be split so the democrats will win. Yes. That’s okay. It’s worth that temporary setback to ensure that Trump and his ilk do not win.
If Trump doesn’t run, then one of his look-alikes will almost certainly be the nominee. Think DeSantas or Hailey or such. In that event, we still need a third party to make sure whoever takes his place does not win. Any of these folks would just be a puppet for Trump.
I have a suggestion for who the new Conservative Party should nominate: William Hurd.
Hurd is a former CIA agent, a graduate of Texas A and M, a former three-term Congressman known for expertise in technology and cybersecurity, and for bipartisanship. His father is black and his mother is white. He is running for President. He is author of a remarkable new book entitled American Reboot – An Idealist’s Guide to Getting Big Things Done.
The publisher says the book is about “the Republican Party’s failure to present a principled vision for the future; the lack of honest leadership in Washington, DC; income inequality that threatens the livelihood of millions of Americans; US economic and military dominance that is no longer guaranteed; and how technological change in the next thirty years will make the advancements of the last thirty years look trivial.” It is more than all that; it is a vision of what conservative leadership could look like.
Conservatives know that Trump and his royal, loyal ‘Republicans’ have left them. So they must get on with it. Form the third party, nominate a real man who is intelligent, honest, experienced, visionary – and who can lead our democracy into a secure future.
Just Sayin’.
John R. Dixon 