President Trump’s failure to govern as a true conservative has somehow forced a deep bench of successors: Rep. Brandon Gill, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio among them.
Trump teases renaming Strait of Hormuz as the ‘Trump Strait’
In his GOP convention address, President Trump said he thought the Strait of Hormuz should be renamed after him.
On the opening night of the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas on Sept. 9, dubbed “Trumpapalooza” for good reason, I laughed as President Donald Trump mocked Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico for going vegan, then rediscovering his taste for Texas barbecue right as he launched his U.S. Senate campaign. In the same speech, Trump promised that if Republicans win in November, every adult citizen will receive a $5,000 “dividend,” a trillion-dollar giveaway that’s disastrous policy and hardly conservative.
I can’t think of two better examples of Trump’s fundamental contradiction, in the space of a single speech: humorous, vicious and dedicated to exposing the left’s absurdities, yet also self-aggrandizing and willing to throw a trillion inflationary dollars at voters to win their loyalty.
Trump has dominated American politics for a decade, and while he’s been the right man for this moment, the Republican Party can and must move beyond his version of “conservatism.” The convention, and the midterms bearing down on us, suggest that moment is coming fast.
At the convention, the mainstream media fixated on Trump. But I saw something else: a glimmer of the future beyond him. And compared to the Democratic Party, particularly its democratic socialist wing, the future looks bright. The GOP’s bench runs deep, and its rising players are smart, patriotic and unapologetically pro-liberty. Critics warned Trump would destroy the Republican Party. Instead, he may have pruned it.
Vance, Rubio and Gill offer the GOP a future beyond Trump
Take Republican Rep. Brandon Gill, a Texan known on social media for grilling witnesses on the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees. He opened his convention remarks with a land acknowledgment; flipping a rhetorical staple of the left back on itself.
“I’d like to acknowledge that we stand here today in the great state of Texas and the United States of America is the ancestral homeland of great American patriots, pioneers and explorers who put down roots, fight for freedom all over the globe and bled and died to build the greatest civilization ever known to man,” Gill said.
Gill’s zingers aren’t just “gotcha” theater; he can be substantive too. But there’s something satisfying about a politician willing to be as ruthless as the left. He got more airtime that night than U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton – proof Republicans want more of Gill’s brand of patriotism, and his knack for exposing the left’s flawed policies.
There’s a bevy of other conservatives worth keeping an eye on, including Rep. Byron Donalds, now the GOP nominee for Florida governor, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and outgoing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has proven he can win in a hostile political environment. This is to say nothing of Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, both heavyweights in intelligence and gravitas, especially next to Trump. I’d argue no one in the Democratic Party’s current leadership matches their political talent or popularity.
A robust debate among Scott, DeSantis, Vance and Rubio would be a boon for the country. If parsing through their talking points is the biggest problem conservatives have in the future, sign me up.
Democrats keep changing their views
These conservatives, among others, share something Democratic leaders sorely lack: Vance, Rubio, DeSantis and others have stayed committed to liberty, limited government and personal responsibility, with only marginal shifts along the way.
Compare that to Talarico, who spent years opposing restrictions on transgender athletes in girls’ sports, then reversed himself the same week as the convention. Or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, and Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, who’ve each recalibrated their own hard-left positions as swing voters started paying attention. The party lacks leaders willing to consistently stand for something.
Trump has been the Republican Party’s biggest asset and the Democratic Party’s biggest target. He had a strong first year, but he’s lost focus on a legislative agenda while the war with Iran drags on. To be effective for all Americans, Republicans should be using their trifecta of power to finish real policy reform: pass the SAVE Act and fix a broken Affordable Care Act. With the bench the party has waiting in the wings, a more disciplined, weighty conservative like Vance or Rubio could actually get it done.
One thing is true, though: Democrats, especially the party’s socialist wing, are worlds apart from conservatives on patriotism, faith and family values. If the GOP could finally embrace fiscal conservatism, it would truly be revolutionary. Either way, the biggest gift Trump has given Republican is own weakness − his lack of true conservatism.
His failure to govern as a true conservative has somehow forced a deep bench of successors: Gill, Vance, Rubio and others who are more patriotic, articulate and principled than anything the Democratic Party can currently field. This might be the last “Trumpapalooza.” I hope it’s the start of something new.
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.