The Soul of the Republican Party
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Christie, a relatively mainstream conservative, was under pressure to back the far more extreme Haley in the New Hampshire primary, where fresh polling suggests she is closing the gap on Trump. A CNN poll this week has Trump at 39 percent to 32 percent for Haley in the Granite State. That poll was one of several that had Christie running third in New Hampshire, pulling 12 percent. That relative show of strength inspired New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, a Haley backer, to urge Christie to “be a hero” and endorse the former UN ambassador.
But there’s nothing heroic about Haley’s candidacy. Yes, she is running against Trump, and she might even best him in New Hampshire. But she’s not willing to challenge Trump in a meaningful way. She signaled months ago that she would support Trump if he’s nominated this summer, as did DeSantis. And Haley has said that, if she were to somehow become president, she would pardon her Republican predecessor. That kind of talk led Christie to suggest, in a hot-mic moment on Wednesday evening, “She’s going to get smoked, and you and I both know it. She’s not up to this.”
It was a fair assessment of Haley’s candidacy, and of the even weaker bid by DeSantis.
Even now, as they desperately battle to catch up with Trump, or at least to be his chief rival, the frequent criticism of the former president from DeSantis and Haley is that he’s not right-wing enough on particular issues—as was illustrated in Wednesday night’s pathetic excuse for a debate between the pair.
Christie’s bottom line concerning the Republicans he eschewed endorsing on Wednesday was the right one: “Anyone who is unwilling to say [Trump] is unfit to be president of the United States is unfit to be president of the United States.”
Christie likes the spotlight, so it’s imaginable that he might yet align with a final “Stop Trump” bid by a former rival such as Haley. But, with the loud-mouthed New Jerseyan out of the race, it’s silly to imagine that another “name” candidate will echo his line of attack and thus risk offending Trump’s large and fiercely loyal base within the GOP. (Straight-talking former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who has also been critical of Trump, is technically still in the running, but his campaign is so under the radar that many Iowans don’t even know he’s a candidate.) The Republican Party may be renewed at some point. But, for this election year, the fight is finished.
The first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, spoke at the close of his 1861 inaugural address, at a time when the country was literally tearing itself apart, of his longing for a renewing moment when the sound of “the better angels of our nature” might again be heard.
Chris Christie is no angel.
But he was better than his rivals.
And now that he is out of the running, the last slim hope that responsible Republicans might right the course of their party in 2024 has been extinguished.
For the entire op ed... https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/chris-christie-exit-trump-soul-republican-party/
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The only way Trump helps the Republican Party long term is if he somehow wins (I don’t think he will), improves the economy (yes I think he will), and brings over women and Latino voters, who are the long term voting block for any party hoping to win for a long time. In short, other candidates would’ve done all 4 things but it doesn’t seem (aside from a legal prevention) that Christie’s fight will win out, and it’ll be Trump vs Biden again. Unless the conventions see chaos… :devil: