Can we bounce back from this?
June 2026
The primary election season is here, and I’ve been watching some of the Republican debates in Arizona.
I find it interesting that, despite the moral and constitutional wreckage of the current White House, local Republican candidates still mouth the same principles they did ten years ago. They talk about being a constitutional conservative, about supporting a limited-government agenda, about respecting the rule of law, etc.
And then comes the question about the 2020 election.
Who won it?
I’ve heard many creative answers to this question, as Republican candidates try to please both the Trump loyalists and the Constitution loyalists in their party. I think most of the candidates know Biden won in 2020, they just don’t want to say it out loud.
A phony answer in a debate might seem like a small compromise in the grand scheme of things.
But the fact that most Republicans cannot answer this straightforward question is a symptom of larger problems.
As we mark 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, many Americans are wondering if our civic compact is breaking.
The president is running amok, Congress has forfeited its pivotal role in our system, we’re trapped in a cycle of partisan brinkmanship, the national debt is out of control, and there’s going to be a UFC fight at the White House on Flag Day.
Can we bounce back from this?
Or should we invite Pope Leo to administer our Last Rites?
I find it encouraging that Republicans are still mouthing republican principles, despite the circumstances. If they remember the principles, there is a chance of recovery when Trump’s term is over.
Marco Rubio gaining in popularity is a good step in that direction. His moral compromises to stay on Trump’s good side have been unseemly, and I tend to consider these compromises to be disqualifying. But if the GOP is going to recover and become a party that draws within the constitutional lines, they are going to need people like Rubio to be transition leaders. Rubio was confirmed as Secretary of State by a unanimous vote in the Senate. He is capable of speaking like a traditional American leader. There are far worse directions the party could go.
Trumpy candidates are still winning Republican primaries, but Dispatch writer Nick Catoggio has a theory that this represents the Jonestown phase of the Trump era. The promise of a Golden Age turned out to be a con, but there has not yet emerged an alternative to Trumpism. The emperor has no clothes, but nobody knows what to do about it yet.
The voices of civility have not gone away quietly. Mike Pence is out there organizing and advocating for traditional conservatism. He is publishing a book about why Republicans should return to conservatism. Pence might have torched his political future by standing for the Constitution over Trumpism on January 6, but he is doing his best to turn that sacrifice into something that will make a pragmatic difference.
If America is going to bounce back, we’re going to need at least one healthy political party to keep us afloat while Republicans figure things out.
I’m not sure the Democratic Party is healthy enough to fulfill that role.
It’s mind-boggling to me that Democrats were not able to capture the center of the country after 2020. They failed to appreciate the narrowness of their majority. Biden took a sharp turn left on several issues, and he didn’t realize his mistake until it was too late. He bungled his exit from the political stage and prevented his party from conducting a proper presidential primary. Amazingly, the polls say the Democratic Party is almost as unpopular as Trump.
Democrats are completely shut out of power at the federal level, but that’s not stopping some Democratic politicians from floating the idea that they should expand the Supreme Court. This is an idea so radical that not even FDR could accomplish it when he enjoyed a large majority in the Senate. The only thing Democrats need to do is offer a sane alternative to Trumpism, and they can’t seem to do it.
I don’t think Democrats, if they take power, will have the votes to pack the Supreme Court or do anything radical with Congress.
I’m more worried about the monarchical presidential powers that Trump has asserted for himself. These powers raise the stakes for upcoming elections, and the temptation to wield them will be strong for whoever wins in 2028.
We don’t know yet who is going to run for president in 2028, but there are several acceptable Democrats in the mix. Arizona Senator Mark Kelly is among the possible contenders who I think would have the capacity to meet the moment and provide unifying leadership.
Imagine a 2028 presidential contest between Marco Rubio and Mark Kelly.
To me, this represents something like the best-case scenario for America. The campaign would feel eerily normal after a decade of chaos.
Of course, there is also the possibility that we get two radical presidential candidates for 2028. Or that a different kind of civic disaster happens before that.
Future historians might conclude that we were already experiencing doomsday constitutional scenarios in 2026.
The good news is that the history of our era is yet to be written, and it’s too early to give up hope.
Firing on all cylinders, Billy. It is possible, years from now, our heirs will look back on the great American self-immolation in the first quarter of this century as a blessing in disguise, despite the pain and suffering it caused. Not unlike a war that is so bloody it has to end. We don't have to imagine how bad things can get; we're living them. If enough Americans show up for the rescue mission, they may enjoy enough support from similarly traumatized citizens to actually return to some level of common sense more quickly than we can now imagine.
I grant you reversing serious damage to the very soul of our Nation is a heavy lift. Thank you for lending a hand from time to time; that matters a lot.
I find it fascinating that you still cling to the idea of the Republican Party as a party of conservative ideals. That ship has sailed, or should I say, at the very least, was only a concept in some strategists minds since Reagan. No, the Republican Party has always talked with “forked tongue” especially in the idea of limited government and of course “family values” what ever that constitutes. No, the MAGA movement came directly down from the Republican line of thinking that wealth means power, government exists for the protection of wealth and thus power for the business class and everyone that isn’t a self sufficient, wealth creating individual does not deserve government help or protection. The idea that somehow this country leans a right of center and Democrats must hue further toward that mythical centrism has also affected many in the Democratic Party. Thankfully, younger generations below my 70 year old age, are waking up to the fact that the Republican promise of limited government has never worked, and the idea that success is a self made concept is killing them.