Political party conventions are the best forecast of a party’s direction at any given time, or at least its vision. The speakers, platforms, and candidates selected at each convention most clearly outline that direction.
This is especially true for the 2024 Republican National Convention. We have seen the Republican Party fully embrace the vision of former President Donald Trump. But what I saw unfold during the week was not conservative. It was an embrace of populism in order to win elections, even at the expense of our principles. And that is sad.
I have seen conservatives sacrifice meaningful positions like opposition to abortion, sexual promiscuity, and union stranglehold on the economy in the name of winning elections.
Republicans are willing to give up key positions to gain votes.
Republicans have been seeking to abandon Reagan conservatism for some time, beginning with their support for Trump in the 2016 presidential election, but they struck a balance then, emphasizing that Trump was the vessel through which conservative ideas could resonate with the Americans he appealed to.
From the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan until 2016, the Republican Party was the party of limited government, free markets, and a strong foreign policy. But that’s all in the past. The latest platform renounces all of that, embracing the idea that going against conservative principles is justified if it serves the “common interest” of winning power.
The party is building a whole new coalition to support Trump, one that doesn’t care if you’re a conservative, all they care about is how to get people to vote for Trump.
President Trump’s Republican National Convention acceptance speech:Trump’s victory night was marked by calls for Biden’s ouster.
“There’s a big tent in the party on every issue, from national security to economic policy,” J.D. Vance said in his vice presidential acceptance speech on Wednesday.
While that may have been true in the 2010s, the Republican Party has made clear it wants to move away from that era and into a new one shaped by a populist vision.
Look who the GOP invited to the Republican National Convention
The Republican Party’s new strategy is to trade votes for firm positions on abortion and other issues, as evidenced by who they choose to speak at their convention.
First, and most egregious, there is Amber Rose, an OnlyFans model and pro-abortion activist. Rose has presented herself as a misguided woman who was led by the media to believe lies about Trump. Either way, she lives a life that is antithetical to conservative values. She doesn’t hide it.
“I am not a Satanist… Satanists are also atheists“But they’re just political,” Rose said in an interview earlier this year defending Satanists. “They help a lot of people, a lot of women, get abortions even though, you know, abortion is illegal in the Southern states.”
Call me a bigot, but I have no interest in rebranding America’s so-called conservative political party to include people like this. There is no ideal of conservatism that is compatible with someone who defends Satan worshippers who help women get abortions. Period.
Next up is Teamsters Chairman Sean O’Brien. Having a union leader speak at the Republican National Convention is a complete reversal for Republicans, who introduced a national right-to-work bill in Congress just in 2021. The bill would make it illegal to force workers to join a union and pay union dues.
Embracing an anti-labor, historically corrupt organization like the Teamsters, which has actively opposed labor rights legislation, is a complete reversal of policy for the Republican Party. Allowing unions to strangle the economy and extract money and goods from workers goes against the principles the Republican Party has held for decades.
The changes are an overtly populist push to appeal to the one-fifth of voters nationwide who belong to union households, a demographic Joe Biden won nationally in 2020 and also won by small margins in Midwestern battleground states.
JD Vance was the wrong choice.Trump’s vice presidential nomination makes it clear that unity is not the Republican Party’s goal.
Trump’s own speech shows the change in the Republican message includes making him God’s chosen leader.
Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night was surprisingly non-divisive (considered the status quo), but he did take the time to emphasize his position as the voice of the Republican Party.
“I wasn’t supposed to be here tonight,” Trump said, recalling the assassination attempt, “and it is only by the grace of Almighty God that I stand before you on this stage.”
A common theme throughout the convention was that speakers suggested that Trump’s survival of the assassination attempt was due to divine intervention.
“God saved President Trump from his assassins because He’s not done killing him yet,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a speech on Tuesday.
It is dangerous to portray Trump as God’s chosen leader for the future of his party and the country, and it is dangerous to deify any politician.
Trump supporters prefer to embrace non-conservatives rather than work with Reagan Republicans
During his speech, Trump also took time to speak directly with Vance, his running mate.
“This is going to go on for a long time. Enjoy it,” Trump said.
Trump’s words to Vance underscore his vision for exactly that, choosing him as his successor to carry on the future of the MAGA movement.
After the events of the Republican National Convention, it is clear that the Republican Party is actively seeking a new coalition without true conservatives. This shift is especially disheartening for me as a Gen Z voter, as I missed out on candidates like Mitt Romney, John McCain, and George W. Bush and instead got Trump again.
I was hopeful that this phase would resolve itself for the Republican Party and they might revert to being a conservative candidate in the future, but it’s clear to me that this isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
There is no truly conservative political party in America right now, and voters like me have nowhere to go unless we sacrifice our principles to follow them, as the Republican Party has done.
Dais Potas is an opinion columnist for USA Today and holds a degree in political science from DePaul University.
