As I look back on my years as a Republican officeholder in Illinois, I realize just how large the tent was. There was always a place to accommodate those of us who didn’t subscribe to the most conservative version of Republican dogma.
Today, with Republican candidates forced to kiss Donald Trump’s ring to access the general election ballot, it’s hard to believe there was a day when even dyed-in-the-wool, conservative Republicans would surprise occasionally with more moderate political stances not in keeping with many of their supporters. That’s a far cry from the orthodoxy of the Republican Party today, when a ticket of admission to the party must be stamped with unwavering adoration of megalomaniac Trump.
Consider these examples from not so long ago:
Remembered primarily for the Watergate scandal, President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency, which today’s Republican Party is out to destroy as Trump takes his orders from oil and gas lobbies and then pollutes the minds of his MAGA faithful with lies and misinformation about climate change.
Then there was U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde, whose legacy is the Hyde Amendment that prohibited the use of federal funds for abortion, but even he allowed for exceptions. Today, Republican-controlled legislatures in 21 states passed tougher restrictions on abortions than allowed by Roe v. Wade, which was a U.S. Supreme Court decision written by a Republican justice, Harry Blackmun, who was appointed to the court by Nixon.
Hyde also was an original sponsor of the Brady Bill requiring background checks for gun buyers, and he broke with his party in 1994 when he supported a ban on the sale of semi-automatic weapons. Today’s Republicans worship all manner of guns, especially those that kill our children in their classrooms, and they have done everything but set up gun shops in the cloakrooms of Congress.
As California governor, Ronald Reagan signed one of the most liberal abortion laws. As president, he remains the hero of the party’s conservative wing, yet he didn’t lay a glove on a woman’s right to choose under Roe v. Wade. Trump Republicans are scrambling now to catch up with American women who showed up at 2022 midterms to vote against Republicans who ignored choice.
Every time I hear Trump idolize Russian President Vladimir Putin, encouraging him to attack NATO countries and blithely bragging to his MAGA crowd that he will end the war on Ukraine in one day, I wonder what President George H.W. Bush would do if he were still with us. Would he walk away from Ukraine as Trump and many of his minions threaten? No, Bush remembered the price of freedom from his days as a fighter pilot in World War II risking his own life to save Europe and democracy from the Nazis. Meanwhile, when it came time for Trump to serve, he used a spurious bone spur diagnosis to dodge military service and the possibility of a Vietnam tour of duty.
Bush was an internationalist, based on his service to country and his performance in the White House. Biden falls in line with Republican presidents such as Bush, Reagan and Dwight D. Eisenhower who believed in a rules-based international order and employed the power and authority of America to back it up. Trump spends his time on foreign policy praising autocrats around the globe and leaving no doubt about his presidency deserting friendly democracies and standing silently by as rogue governments prosper.
Bush’s son, George W. Bush, won’t be treated kindly in the history books for his decision to send troops into Iraq, but he deserves to be remembered for his global health initiatives in Africa that are estimated to have saved tens of millions of lives. It takes a president of a party with heart and compassion to take on an assignment on a continent beyond the understanding of the American voter, knowing full well that history books may miss that part of his legacy.
Meanwhile, Trump’s inability to register the slightest empathy for more than 10,000 civilians, including many women and children, who have died in Putin’s war against Ukraine, reminds us of the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz” who lacked the ability to feel and experience emotions. At least the Tin Man was seeking a heart so he could care about others, but Trump doubles down on his sociopathic behavior every time he speaks to a MAGA rally.
The future of the Republican Party cannot belong to an insurrectionist whose life has been devoted to self-indulgence. Trump’s prescription for making America great again is a government that turns inward and cares not to extend a hand to those fighting off autocracy. What is downright scary about this radical turn our politics have taken is the fantasy culture among the MAGA crowd that legitimizes a corrupt liar as leader of one of our two major parties.
It is my fondest hope in the 2024 election that voters reject the charlatan Trump and that Republicans can then rebuild the party of Lincoln. Those who still choose to follow Trump can become the Mar-a-Lago Party, the perfect symbol of a leader and followers living in an alternate universe devoid of any concern for the well-being of its own citizens and impressed only by tyrants abroad who kill and maim to snuff out democracy wherever they find it.
Bob Kustra served two terms as Illinois lieutenant governor and 10 years as a state legislator. He also was chair of the Illinois Board of Higher Education and taught political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Loyola, Roosevelt and Northwestern universities.
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