The Republican Party’s roller coaster ride with Donald Trump makes its last loop this week, as the American people prepare to render one final judgment on the man who has dominated our politics and culture since 2015.
Because I’m a lifelong conservative Republican who doesn’t like to be jostled all that much, this ride has tested my fortitude at times. I was none too pleased with Trump after Jan. 6, 2021, and thought perhaps the party was done with him after the 2022 midterm, a GOP underperformance largely blamed on the former president.
I was wrong in both cases about his relative political strength. He’s the Yukon Cornelius of politics — the character in Rankin-Bass’ animated “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer” who was thought dead after falling off a cliff but cushioned, as it turns out, by a version of the abominable snowman, a Bumble.
“Didn’t I ever tell you about Bumbles? Bumbles bounce!” Yukon exclaims as he shows up unexpectedly at the North Pole. Will Trump do the same on election night?
Today, Trump is more popular than ever — both personally and as a president. Trump’s resilience, and his base’s determination to return him to the White House, is one of the most remarkable occurrences in modern political history.
The Gallup poll’s “scalometer” found Trump with a 50% favorable rating at the beginning of October, slightly higher than Kamala Harris. That’s Trump’s highest score of his three runs (he was at 47% favorable in 2020 and just 36% in 2016).
A CNN poll in September found Trump with a positive retrospective job approval, with 51% saying his term was more of a success than a failure (61% said the Biden-Harris administration has been more of a failure than a success).
And today, millions of Republicans like me — who nearly upchucked a time or two on this crazy ride — are prepared to vote for him one more time as a bulwark against the cultural and governance excesses of the American left.
Simply put, I’m more worried about the country’s future than any problems I’ve had with Trump in the past.
I’m worried about the impulse to restrict political speech, which some on the left (including Harris) have embraced.
I’m worried about the left’s demonization of America’s origins and the future of Western civilization, as many conservatives feel that the basic tenets of society as we’ve known it are under attack.
I’m worried about the Democratic Party’s bait-and-switch tactics. First, it was: Trust us, Biden is a moderate and he’s totally with it. He turned out to be neither.
And now, it’s: Trust us, Harris no longer holds all the crazy positions that she clearly and passionately campaigned for in 2019.
Fool me once, as they say. Harris is clearly in over her head, as anyone can plainly see from her media engagements.
While there’s no politician I agree with 100%, Trump and the Republicans are highly likely to do what I want most of the time, while Harris and the Democrats are almost guaranteed to do none of what I want at any time. The argument that to save conservatism I must vote for the most liberal presidential candidate in American history seems, charitably, naïve to this Republican.
Trump cut taxes for nearly everyone and will extend those cuts if elected. Trump appointed conservative judges who respect the Constitution, and he will again. Trump will secure the border, whereas the Biden-Harris administration didn’t. Trump refuses to engage in the mindless pablum that dominates our political discourse, one of the most refreshing things about him. For Harris, it’s one trip to “world salad city” after another. The only time Harris gets specific is when she’s lying about Trump’s agenda.
But Trump is Hitler, a fascist! Come on — Democrats said that about every Republican presidential candidate in my lifetime, including George W. Bush, for whom I worked and whom I revere. You’ll have to forgive the average Republican for being calloused against these attacks; we’ve heard it all before.
Besides, if you are worried about the vile, antisemitic ideology of Hitler’s Germany coming to America, perhaps focus on the violence emanating from college campuses and on the streets of American cities. Those weren’t Republicans chasing Jewish people up and down sidewalks, I can assure you. The sight of Hamas and Hezbollah banners on American streets sickens me, and Harris’ boycotting of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress this year was inexcusable.
What I’ve not heard before is the kind of hateful browbeating from the people who dislike this particular Republican nominee the most. The Trump campaign is accused of extreme incivility, but from hysterical Never Trumpers to both Obamas, Harris’ top surrogates flame anyone who doesn’t fall in line. Everyone who disagrees with them, it seems, is either a misogynist, a racist or a Nazi sympathizer.
Give me a break. It’s not our fault that Harris can’t make a coherent argument to a conservative or a working-class man as to why she’s a superior candidate; scolding them makes it even worse.
The ride is almost over. I’ve made my choice, and so have millions of other Republicans who simply prefer a center-right government to whatever Harris is offering (even she doesn’t appear to know). I don’t begrudge any fellow American their decision, and we all stand equal under the Constitution on election day.
I just hope when all is said and done that there is broad acceptance of the outcome. The American system and our Constitution have served us well for nearly 250 years. I don’t know who will win in 2024, but I know a single election won’t break us no matter what anyone tells you.
Scott Jennings is a contributing writer to Opinion, a former special assistant to President George W. Bush and a senior CNN political commentator.