In Georgia, where Democrats not only beat Trump in November but also toppled the U.S. Senate in the by-elections, the Republican-controlled state Senate on Tuesday approved a bill requiring an ID when requesting an absent ballot. The next day it was a bonanza across the country. The Iowa House passed a bill to restrict early voting. In Missouri, the Republican-controlled House passed legislation that would require a photo ID at the ballot box, while a legislative committee in Wyoming moves forward with a similar bill.
The Brennan Center for Justice monitors more than 250 bills to restrict the votes of lawmakers in 43 states.
Benjamin Ginsberg, an attorney in the election who represented former Republican presidential candidates, mourns the death of the ‘Idea factory’ in the IDP.
“Tell me, what was the innovative Republican policy of late?” he said. The focus on resettling the last election is “probably a sign that the Republican Party is trapped in a bit of a wasteland and does not know which way to go.”
Alberto Gonzales, the former attorney general in the George W. Bush administration, said “all Americans need to be concerned about the integrity of the election.” But without any evidence of widespread fraud as normal irregularities, he said, the focus by some in the IDP on the last election is a ‘major distraction’ from issues that push voters more.
“I think it’s a big distraction,” Gonzales said. “And I’m worried it would be a big distraction, as long as a certain person declares it stolen.”
There is no indication that Trump, who will speak at the congress on Sunday, will be released – or that the party’s rank and file are prepared to turn away from his allegations that the election was stolen from him, despite more than 60 losses in election lawsuits challenging the presidential election.
This has not always been the case in the Republican Party. Last year, CPAC’s theme was ‘America Against Socialism’. The year before, there were no less than three panels focusing on the challenges of a rising China. This year, CPAC did not go down without the party’s biggest hits being broadcast: trade, China, immigration and abortion. And there were shouts for Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand. But the fallout in November was the main point – in Republicans’ frustration over deployment and the seven-part ‘election protection’ investigation.
In part, the lack of a more forward-looking attitude is a function of his sudden lack of power in Washington. The GOP establishes itself as an opposition party – with conservatives describing Texas Senator Ted Cruz at CPAC as ‘the Rebel Alliance’. But there is little room for innovative, policy-oriented conservative thinking in a party that inspires one leader – a leader who is obsessed with the idea of losing a difficult election.
Ken Khachigian, a former assistant to Richard Nixon and lead speaker of Reagan, said that the Republican Party today does not have a “vote like they had with Reagan, for example, or Bill Buckley, the Conservative movement that is on stage and everyone moves like Jack Kemp did during the day. ”
“There is always hope,” Khachigian said, suggesting that “when you are not like AOC [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] on the other hand, it is not difficult to come up with someone. ”
But the backward-looking focus on November and its consequences, he says, is ‘to shoot empty’.
It can cost. As the Republican Party prepares for the midterm elections and the next presidential election, it does so as a shell of itself, having lost the White House and both houses of Congress in the span of four years. The last time it held the popular vote in a presidential election was in 2004, and the shifting demographics of America make it increasingly unlikely he will do so in 2024 – despite attempts to raise obstacles.
“It’s a party shaped in the form of Trump – Trump’s message, Trump’s tactics – and it’s very comfortable to be a party defined by what it’s against,” Kevin Madden said. a former adviser to Mitt Romney, said.
The trouble for the party, Madden said, is’ you’re almost toxic as a party brand for larger, growing sections of the electorate. … The limitation of a message and a platform that differs only in that the opposition does not agree is that it does not speak to the greater concern or concern of a large part of the electorate. ‘
It is possible that the party’s determination on election fraud and the alleged silence of those trying to overthrow the result will disappear. Trump’s attempt to contest the election has delayed the traditional mourning period for the lost party. And because a majority of Republicans still approve of Trump and believe that the election was not free or fair, there is a political necessity for the party to soften them.
Sal Russo, a former co-founder of Reagan and co-founder of Tea Party Express, said: ‘Sometimes you have to give a little respect to where your base wants to go. … Do I think Republicans need to overcome the issues over the election process? Yes, because you are not winning on ‘we will intensify the election of absent votes.’ It does not appear to be voting. ”
“I think a catharsis should happen,” he said, adding that “it’s probably a good thing that CPAC spends a lot of time on it.”