It just became official: the Republican Party is now the party of Donald Trump, which will probably result in disaster for them in the 2020 elections.
POLITICO is reporting that the GOP has basically re-branded itself as the “Trump Party:”
“President Donald Trump is planning to roll out an unprecedented structure for his 2020 reelection, a streamlined organization that incorporates the Republican National Committee and the president’s campaign into a single entity.”
“It’s a stark expression of Trump’s stranglehold over the Republican Party: Traditionally, a presidential reelection committee has worked in tandem with the national party committee, not subsumed it.”
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“Under the plan, which has been in the works for several weeks, the Trump reelection campaign and the RNC will merge their field and fundraising programs into a joint outfit dubbed “Trump Victory.” The two teams will also share office space rather than operate out of separate buildings, as has been custom.”
Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has already started bragging that this new structure will be the “most efficient and unified campaign operation in American history.”
But the biggest problem with this approach is that a national party is supposed to support the campaigns of thousands of state and local candidates.
A national party is not supposed to focus only on re electing the president. To do so could harm local organizing and fundraising efforts.
Presidential campaigns get the most attention every election cycle, but this new RNC move will make the GOP focus on the presidency even greater than normal, to the detriment of all other party candidates.
And it seems like a really stupid move, given Trump’s legal problems and lack of popularity.
Opinion polls show that the only people who like Donald Trump, and approve of his presidency, are Republicans. Nearly all Democrats and the vast majority of independents can’t stand the guy. And Republicans are becoming a smaller part of the voting population each year.
So the RNC move does not seem to make sense, politically. The only thing it does is build Trump’s ego by giving him a big “win.” He has now completed his hostile takeover of the GOP, and is in complete control of it.
And not only is Trump historically unpopular, a recent poll also shows that nearly two-thirds of American voters think he is a liar, and is not telling the truth about his contacts with and relationships with Russia and other foreign countries where he has business dealings.
This proves that the historic Republican defeat in the 2018 midterms did not teach the RNC or the Trump re-election team anything at all. They don’t seem to realize that Republicans lost the 2018 congressional races by a total of ten million votes, the widest margin ever, because disgust for Trump drove record midterm voter turnout in favor of Democrats.
This proves that the overwhelming majority of American voters view being associated with Donald Trump as a huge negative for Republican politicians, except in places like North Dakota and Wyoming, with three electoral votes each.
A more rational approach for Republicans would be to give their candidates throughout the country the option of distancing themselves from Trump. But that is not likely to happen now.
What’s happening now is that if Republican candidates don’t kneel before Trump and kiss his ring and pledge undying loyalty, they will be banned from the GOP kingdom. They will be scorned by Trump loyalists, attacked on social media, and challenged in party primaries.
But let’s not forget the 17 ongoing investigations into Trump, his family, and his associates. The Washington Post reported that Trump’s corruption is widespread and has infected nearly every project and entity he’s ever been involved with.
While Republicans view Trump as a shining star, everyone else sees him as a sinking ship. And as the party ties itself more strongly to that sinking ship, the entire party is likely to go down in the 2020 elections.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
