OPINION:
I am a young Republican, and I am terrified. But I would rather be terrified and honest than loyal and losing.
Democrats are understandably ecstatic: A blue tsunami rolled over the country in this year’s midterms. Republicans who went into the elections cautiously optimistic watched their hopes get crushed in brutal fashion.
I was not surprised. The coalition that handed President Trump and the GOP a “mandate” in 2024 no longer exists. The young voters hoping for a lower cost of living, the socially conservative Hispanic voters, the independents who rejected “woke 1.0” — this administration drove them all away with the war with Iran, the absence of any measurable culture-war victories, constant administrative scandals and perceived closeness with Israel.
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What worries me the most about the election results is not the tsunami, but the number of question marks the Republicans have right now.
Mr. Trump’s entire approach to handing out primary endorsements came down to one test: absolute loyalty to him. That is why our candidates were so weak. Ken Paxton, Darlene Graham and Vivek Ramaswamy never should have been the Republican nominees.
Ten years ago, a blue Texas was a Democratic pipe dream. Now it is reality. Young Republicans who push for accountability risk being branded disloyal and in a party where Mr. Trump’s endorsement has decided primaries and disloyalty leads to blacklisting, that can end a political career before it starts.
Everyone knows what happened this week. It was a repudiation of Republicans, specifically Mr. Trump. In September, I was in Dallas for the Republican Party’s first-ever midterm convention. On opening night, Mr. Trump told us, “I’m asking you to pretend I’m on the ballot,” and this week, voters did.
We need all the commentators, operatives and representatives to stand together and demand a change in policy and rhetoric from the White House. We must dump, as fast as we can, the idea of a party being ruled by one man
Losing both chambers and now being left with a lame-duck president is a bad defeat. An even worse one would be letting the party spiral at the hands of bad leadership and being caught with our pants down in 2028.
Republicans need to act together, quickly. If we do not, the future looks bleak.
RHYDER MILES
Burtonsville, Maryland
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