It is truly disturbing how many Republicans cannot seem to let go of the past. They are convinced that Trump is the man to save this country, despite his inability to concentrate on his agenda or to formulate a plan for success, and despite the losses and underperformance that the GOP has suffered since his election, particularly among those he endorses.
The only thing more puzzling is the people who want to go back even further into the discredited neoconservatism of Bush, McCain, and Romney. The 2006 and 2008 elections were disasters that dwarf Trump’s losses, and 2012 was a woeful underperformance. Only the excitement of the Tea Party movement and Democrat overreach allowed the comebacks of 2010 and 2016.
Lynn Schmidt’s recent column, “It’s not too late for GOP to dump Trump and pick Nikki” (Nov. 25) is a prime example of this blindness. Haley’s strong stance against China and Russia largely consists of military posturing, while she does nothing to counter the free trade dogmas that allowed China to become such a powerful threat in the first place. In fact, as governor of South Carolina, she subsidized Chinese business investment with free land.
It does not matter how much military might we put between Taiwan and China for deterrence if we are so economically dependent on China that they can shut us down and then economically isolate and crush Taiwan.
Moreover, Haley stands with corporations over the people, as shown by her recent siding with Disney against Florida over parental rights.
Folks like Haley are why the GOP turned to Trump. There is only one candidate in the race who will move the country forward, not back, and who will defeat the GOP’s domestic opponents and the USA’s foreign rivals, and that is Ron DeSantis.
Michael Jose
Augusta
Send questions/comments to the editors.
