Trump’s GOP isn’t built to win, but only to protect himself

Donald Trump’s family has taken personal control of the Republican National Committee, and it is already beginning to resemble the D.C. branch of the Trump Organization rather than one that represents all Republicans.

Lara Trump, Eric Trump’s wife and the RNC’s new co-chair, had already decreed that her father-in-law’s election was the only priority for the RNC. Historically, the RNC has coordinated with other party committees and individual campaigns to provide in-kind and cash assistance, funds permitting. (Full disclosure: I served as deputy chair of the RNC in 2008.) The Trumps like decrees, and this one means that little help for Republican House and Senate candidates will be forthcoming this year from the RNC.

Next, the RNC has cut back its mail-in voting program, doubling down on Trump’s opposition to early voting. This is in spite of the fact that a growing number of Americans are casting ballots before Election Day — nearly 50 percent in 2020. Yet Trump has decreed that the GOP will at best make a token effort to attract early voters.

Instead, the RNC will beef up its anti-fraud unit, guaranteeing more baseless litigation, failed court cases and angry speeches by Trump. The one thing the new unit will not do is eliminate or significantly reduce early voting, meaning that Republican congressional candidates are on their own in turning out their voters.

It hasn’t been announced yet, but the likely next shoe to drop will be for the RNC to begin paying Trump’s legal bills for his four criminal trials, and maybe for appeals in the civil actions that have already cost him over $500 million in fines and sanctions. Viewed in the aggregate, this new focus amounts to severely curtailing any assistance for other Republican candidates — save the one whose family now runs the RNC.

None of this bodes well for Republicans this year — and the future is no brighter. That’s because Republican activists and those attracted to Trump are wedded to a set of beliefs that are unpopular with the larger American public. Trump himself has few deeply held beliefs aside from self-preservation, but here are a few MAGA-inspired principles that GOP primary voters now embrace.

First, Trump voters express deep skepticism about the U.S. role in the world and the system of alliances America created in the aftermath of World War II. Trump berates NATO and America’s European allies for not contributing to the alliance, despite NATO’s strong support for Ukraine to fight Russian aggression. He continues to speak highly of dictator and thug Vladimir Putin, culminating in his recent statement that Putin should “do whatever the hell he wants” in Europe, a remark that drew a sharp bipartisan rebuke from national security officials. For reasons dating back to his first impeachment, Trump has no use for Ukraine, and would be only too eager to walk away from Putin’s aggression if given a second term.

Support for Ukraine is still strong in the U.S. Even though Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to schedule a vote on Ukraine aid, it is clear that there is still overwhelming bipartisan support for continued assistance. Outside of Trump and Tucker Carlson, few Americans look kindly on Putin’s aggression.

Second, Republican primary voters embrace Trump’s lies that Biden did not win the 2020 election. This is despite the work of the Jan. 6 bipartisan congressional committee, and statements by Trump’s own administration officials that the election saw no major fraud and dozens of court decisions rejecting Trump’s baseless allegations.

This denial of reality has implications far beyond this year. It leads to lack of confidence in American elections and our criminal justice system, things Trump encourages for his own personal benefit. He may claim to love America, but only when it suits his purposes.

Sympathy for the Jan. 6 rioters is now widespread within the “normal” GOP as well as among MAGA voters. Trump refers to the criminals convicted in attacking the Capitol as “hostages” and promises to pardon them if reelected. Jan. 6 is now ingrained in the minds of Republicans in the same way that the myth of the antebellum South once resonated with Southern segregationists, putting racial justice in the South on hold for nearly a century. This also led to Republican dominance in post-Civil War America, as Democrats and the South hung on to grievances surrounding the war. This same sense of self-isolation and cultural alienation has now infected the Republican Party.

Third, Trump Republicans have eschewed governing in favor of chaos and authoritarianism. The two ideas seem in conflict, yet the first begets the second. MAGA Republicans are unsparing in their criticism of American elections, the U.S. justice system and law enforcement, all in service to excusing Trump’s behavior.

With a slim GOP majority in the House of Representatives, that institution barely functions. Republicans removed their own Speaker, and then took three weeks before settling on the unknown and inexperienced Johnson. Thus far, they have been unable to enact legislation to help Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan fend off terrorism and aggression. 

Having established the chaos, the solution, of course, is authoritarianism. Trump has said his administration will focus on score settling, even promising to be “dictator for one day.” Who thinks he’ll stop after one day?

Trump’s right-wing allies in Washington are drawing up plans to fire government workers and install loyalists who will do what he says. Note that in the first week, his daughter-in-law fired dozens of RNC workers, a preview of what he would do if elected president. It’s no surprise that his guest at Mar-a-Largo recently was one Viktor Orbán, the autocrat from Hungary, who is a Trump favorite, along with Putin of course.

Isolationism, anger and grievance, chaos and authoritarianism. These are not winning issues for Republicans, yet that is where the party is headed for the near term. For Reagan Republicans and advocates of limited government, the search for a new political home can’t begin soon enough.

Frank Donatelli was assistant to President Ronald Reagan and former deputy chair of the Republican National Committee.