Please pass this along to any non-MAGA Republicans you know. If you are a non-MAGA Republican, thank you for reading.
Dear non-MAGA Republicans,
It’s crazy it’s come to this, isn’t it? You, a loyal lifelong Republican, suddenly find yourself without a party because the GOP has been thoroughly taken over by Donald Trump and his MAGA minions. You are left to roam in exile as a RINO, which on the MAGA Hate Scale is but one step removed from Radical Woke Communist Who Hates America and Wants to Destroy It, or RWCWHAaWtDI in MAGA parlance.
You can’t stomach Donald Trump. You recognize him for what he is — greedy, vulgar, vain, and vengeful. If Trump were an attorney, that would be the name of his law firm.
You are painfully aware that Trump is characterologically, intellectually, and emotionally unqualified to hold public office or, really, to be put in any position of trust. He is a thoroughly bad person, the walking embodiment of the Dark Triad. (I’d say he was uniquely bad, but I suspect that’s untrue.)
We are, after all, talking about the first former president to face criminal charges, and in four separate cases to boot. It’s fair to say there’s a lot of evidence in these trials — documents, texts, audio recordings — that just may present adverse facts for the defense (as evidence proving guilt usually does). Then there are the civil judgments against Trump for sexual abuse, defamation, and fraudulent business practices. Action is character, as they say in Hollywood.
Donald Trump has no sense of a greater good; everything, literally, is about him. But you probably figured that out some time ago. It’s not like he hides it, even though he somehow is able to dupe the MAGA faithful with transparent, insincere stunts. As we have seen, flag-hugging and Jesus-comparing go a long way with a gullible audience.
Even if you haven’t yet tuned in seriously to the presidential campaign, you’ve probably heard some of Trump’s increasingly hateful, dystopian, and incoherent rhetoric as of late. If not, imagine William S. Burroughs’ cut-up method, but with Mein Kampf and A Clockwork Orange as the source material. Unintelligible, yet the point is kristallnacht clear.
Trump’s words are those of a dark, disturbed human being who revels in bullying, dominating, and demeaning other people, fleecing his supporters and business partners, and enacting revenge against his perceived enemies. Trump’s greatest pleasure, though, is getting away with all of it. Regrettably, this also is Trump’s greatest achievement: Living a life of brazenly lying, cheating, deceiving, defrauding, backstabbing, humiliating, smearing, demonizing, and slutshaming. Only now is accountability catching up with him.
Anyway, non-MAGA Republicans, here is my point. It was heartening to see anywhere from 10% to 43% of voters in GOP primaries and caucuses vote for Nikki Haley and not the presumptive nominee and undisputed party boss. The results show real electoral weakness for Trump in states like Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Virginia.
But that was then and November is November. You feel me? The election is where it’s at; everything else is angst. You will be under tremendous pressure — some external, some rooted in your innate loyalty to the party of Lincoln and Reagan — to “come back to the fold” by Election Day.
That would be a tragic mistake. First, it should be obvious that you’re not really welcome back because you must hate Trump. As Mark Sumner writes in Daily Kos:
The broad schism running through the Republican Party is visible in everything from resignations in the House to Republican leadership that can survive only with the help of Democrats. There is simple divisiveness and there is intra-party hate, and Republicans seem to have an ample supply of both.
What the GOP lacks is a balance of power. MAGA runs everything, and your opinion no longer matters, non-MAGA Republicans. There’s a reason Liz Cheney has so much time to be on CNN and MSNBC. Sumner adds:
When push comes to shove, voters usually stick to their party in the fall, but with Trump actively pushing some of those GOP voters away rather than trying to pull them in, past experience may not be a great predictor of what to expect in 2024.
The second thing I strongly urge non-MAGA Republicans to remember — really, the essential thing — is that Trump is a pathologically bad person, and NO GOOD CAN COME FROM PUTTING A BAD MAN IN CHARGE. (That’s right, I too can do this all-caps shit.)
Trump’s instincts are malign. He will never change. That will be as true in November as it is now. You simply can’t vote for him and feel good about yourself.
But that’s only half the equation: The other half is you must vote for Joe Biden, distasteful though it may be. I get it. But it’s like magic mushrooms; you just have to choke them down and get it over with. Wasting your vote on Robert Kennedy Jr., Jill Stein, or the latest champion of the gold standard is flirting with danger; not just for you personally, but for all of us.
I say this not as a Joe Biden lover. I don’t have a Dark Brandon t-shirt and never participated in a Biden Boat Parade (not that they exist). In truth, I come from a position much further to the left than Joe Biden. I say this as a lover of our democracy and as a father who is concerned about the future of our country. I am totally serious.
Whether you think he’s done a decent job as president overall — as I do — or he’s too liberal, too old, and too whatever, Joe Biden is a fundamentally decent and competent man. Trump is the polar opposite of those things.
Not voting for Trump isn’t enough. He’s running against Biden. To win, Biden needs every vote he can get. Liberals, moderates, conservatives — we must all take seriously the consequences of a second Trump presidency. Our votes on November 5 matter, for us and our children.
Non-MAGA Republicans, I look forward to a time when I can once again focus on hating your position on fracking and the estate tax, and you my views on Medicaid expansion and student loan forgiveness. Those were the good old days, were they not? Today, however, we face a common enemy, and we must stand united if we are to preserve our democracy.
You can do this. More to the point, we all need you to do this. Because a vote for Biden is a vote to save democracy. Don’t overthink it.
Thanks for hearing me out, non-MAGA Republicans.
(From Project Orange: Saving Democracy From the Trump-MAGA Cult)