They say you can’t go home again, but Mike Pence is determined to try. As part of his presidential announcement, Pence billed himself as a Reagan conservative, leading the Republican Party back to pre-Trump days.
According to The New York Times, “His team’s improbable bet is that a ‘Reagan coalition’ – composed of the Christian right, fiscal conservatives and national security hawks – can be reassembled within a party transformed by (Donald) Trump.” It may be a long shot, but it at least represents a coherent alternative vision for the GOP to the backward-looking anger and resentment favored by the former president, and increasingly by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
It was the standard line on the “Mad Men” TV show: “If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.” So how can Pence, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin or former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley change the GOP’s conversation?
Let’s look at the issues that animated GOP conservatives from Ronald Reagan through the beginnings of MAGA.
Republicans need a candidate who is a fiscal conservative
A Reaganite candidate has a glaring opening with fiscal conservatives. President Reagan worked hard to limit domestic discretionary spending. Necessary military spending that ended the Cold War drove most of the Reagan era deficits. In contrast, Trump cared not a whit about reining in the federal budget.
According to the conservative Manhattan Institute, “Trump left the White House with the largest peacetime budget deficit in American history and a national debt exceeding 100% of the economy for the first time since World War II.”
Some of that spending was pandemic related, but not all. As usual, Trump is unapologetic, and he opposed the recently concluded debt ceiling agreement to solve a problem he helped to create.
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The concept of limited government is seldom discussed in today’s GOP. The latest right-wing fantasy is the notion of using big government for “conservative ends.” Never mind that the main conservative end is freedom.
This notion has led DeSantis to embrace state power and wage war against “woke” ideas, including the free speech rights of a private company (Disney), the biggest employer in his state. It also underlines his administration’s energetic efforts to censor school library books and curriculum plans, in some cases if only a single parent complains.
Is there a market for a presidential candidate who speaks candidly about the need for a return to limited government, fiscal discipline and budget reform?
Trump’s biggest supporters have been social conservatives. These voters have been willing to overlook his spotty personal life to focus instead on his appointment of originalist judges. A Supreme Court with three Trump appointees overruled Roe v. Wade. Republican state legislatures have responded by passing laws outlawing abortion in virtually all cases, a position that has little public support.
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Republican Party used to be the party of law and order
An even bigger Republican problem is criminal justice. Republicans since Richard Nixon have fancied themselves as the law-and-order party. However, deference to Trump’s misdeeds has taken on a higher priority. Case in point: the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump’s rhetoric about that horrible day has become radicalized, and he now seems to justify the actions of those convicted of violent crimes. He has teased pardons for even the most violent offenders and called an African American policeman who defended the Capitol a “thug.” He smirks when reminded that the rioters’ chant that day was “Hang Mike Pence.”
DeSantis has followed Trump’s lead and promised that if elected president, he would be aggressive in issuing pardons for Jan. 6 rioters, even one for Trump himself. Yes, really.
Is there a market for a candidate who will defend the GOP’s historic commitment to the rule of law, peaceful protest and American democracy?
Return to pro-democracy, pro-freedom foreign policy
Foreign policy is probably where Trump’s crabby semi-isolationism most differs from Reagan’s freedom-oriented alliance of democratic nations. Reagan energized the international coalition that vanquished the Soviet Union and brought freedom to Eastern Europe and most of the old Soviet Republics. Reagan’s American-led coalition was unabashedly pro-democracy and pro-freedom, forward looking and unalterably opposed to aggressive authoritarian states, including the Soviet Union, where Vladimir Putin was a loyal KGB officer.
By contrast, Trump and his MAGA Republicans are unwilling to defend Ukraine against unprovoked Russian aggression. In a recent CNN Town Hall, Trump refused to say whether he would support a Ukrainian victory if elected next year.
DeSantis characterized the conflict as a “territorial dispute,” before walking it back.
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Putin’s goal is to reconstitute the old Soviet Union, which represents a direct threat to American interests and world stability. American and NATO support leading to a Russian defeat in Ukraine would be a massive setback to all of the totalitarian states of today – Russia, Iran, North Korea and China.
Is there a market for a candidate who will argue that our national interest demands that America be involved in world affairs by supporting democracy and opposing aggression by authoritarian states?
One other important Reagan characteristic that has been lost by Trump and his clones is tone. Reagan saw a Republican Party that was optimistic, forward looking and focused on policies to win new adherents to the cause. Trump’s focus is pessimistic, backward looking and dedicated to preserving his narrow base. MAGA demonizes the most vulnerable groups in America for political gain. Reagan grew the pie. Trump sliced it differently. In 1984, Reagan won 59% of votes and 49 states when reelected. Trump received only 47% of the vote in losing reelection in 2020.
Is there a market for a Republican who will focus on the future, enhanced opportunity and a positive agenda that addresses the real needs of America? It’s called changing the conversation.
It wasn’t that long ago that these Reagan principles had the overwhelming support of Republicans. Maybe when Republicans finally get tired of losing, they’ll return to the party’s historic traditions that worked well for a long time.
Frank Donatelli, a former deputy chair of the Republican National Committee, is the chairman of the Reagan Ranch Board of Governors.
