My preferred outcome for the US elections

Unlike most readers here, I have had a strong relationship with the US Republican Party. While of course I can’t vote in US elections, I have followed them since I was 13. In 1980 I wanted Reagan to win. In 1984 even more so. In 1998 was a Bush fan and in 1992. Thought Dole would be better than Clinton in 1996. Big fan of W in 2004 and 2004. Would have loved McCain to win in 2008, and still think he would have been far better than Obama. Same with Romney in 2012.

But I’ve not just observed from afar. Though both the IDU and the IYDU I’ve been fortunate enough to be hosted by the Republican Party on multiple occasions. I even got to attend a party leaders and presidents meeting hosted by the RNC in DC. I’ve met RNC Chairs, white house staff, governors, congressmen. Have been good friends of many Chairs of the College Republicans. Have attended campaign schools in the US, and also have been hosted by prominent conservative organisations such as Heritage, Cato and ATR. So trust me when I say I have a strong emotional and political attachment to the Republican Party, and have many friends who have held high office in the party.

It will surprise no-one that I want Trump to lose. I have made that clear over many years.

But I also want the Republican Party to lose the Senate and remain in the minority in the House. I say this, even though I will detest many of the policies a Biden Presidency could push through a Congress they control. And don’t even start me on the Judges.

But I believe the GOP can only regain its previous greatness by realising how grievous an error they made in tolerating the worst excesses of Trump. Not one GOP House representative voted to impeach him and the only honourable Senator was Mitt Romney who voted in convict him.

Trump is a clear and present danger to the founding principles of the republic. He is everything the founding fathers were worried about. What he tried to do with Ukraine was ten times worse than anything Nixon did. His public demands that his FBI Director and Attorney-General go after his political opponents are intolerable. And the vast majority of Republican legislators know deep down Trump is unfit to hold any elective office. Yet they sold out their principles through either cowardice or putting power first.

If Trump is defeated, I have little doubt he will end up convicted in at least state courts of multiple crimes. He may become the first former President to go to prison.

The Republican Party needs to suffer such a horrible defeat, that they will say no to the next Trump like figure who comes along (Trump of course is not really a Republican – he was a liberal Democrat for many years. He has just used the GOP). Only if the outcome in 2020 results in stuff GOP officeholders and activists hate, will they learn the lesson. A Supreme Court packed with liberal judges. A huge tax hike. Democrat controlled state legislatures deciding congressional boundaries etc. The more it hurts, the more likely they will turn their back on Trump.

I fully expect and hope that in 2024 I’ll be morally supporting the GOP, especially if it is Nikki Haley. Maybe even in 2022.

Now again I am not and never will be a US citizen. It is not my country. But the reason I care is that I believe (unlike many on the left) that the US has been a wonderful force for good in the world. They were pretty much the first modern democratic republic. They gave us the form of government, which is the most common in the world today. In the 1700s they debated freedom and rights. They gave us Washington and Adams and Jefferson. If the American Revolution had never occured, the world would be a far worst place today.

I never thought much of the policies or ideas of Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Obama or H Clinton. But I never doubted they were basically good people who would act in what they saw as the best interest of the United States and its people. The same with Reagan, Bush GHW, Dole, Bush GW, McCain and Romney.

Trump is different. He has demonstrated that on multiple occasions. His undermining of fair and free elections will especially do lasting damage. No amount of tax cuts or conservative judges makes up for that, and the GOP needs to realise that. I certainly hope they do, and they rebuild.

I mean his latest is falsely claiming the main reason the US has such a high Covid-19 death toll is because doctors are paid $2,000 more if they record someone dying from Covid-19. He’s the President, and he is blatantly lying about the entire medical profession to try and distract from his own failings. Has a single GOP Senator condemned him for this?

If he was in New Zealand, he’s be the co-leader of Advance NZ!