Win or Lose, the GOP Is Strong for the Future

• Author: Monica Jackson
• Posted: 2024-01-25

Regardless of the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, the state of the Republican Party is strong. No matter how many times the mainstream media told their audience that Trumpism would lead the GOP to ruin, the truth was actually the opposite. Donald Trump has started to build a strong coalition that will make the Republican Party strong, even as the demographics of the country change. In fact, even if Joe Biden succeeds in stealing the election, the GOP is a unified entity with a clear set of principles. This is more than we can say for the Democrats and their coming civil war.

Trump Has Added to His Base in a Way that Makes the Party Formidable

The media routinely castigated President Trump for catering only to his "base" and ignoring the rest of the electorate. What you saw on Election Day should put that narrative to rest once and for all. Trump has put the Republican Party in a position where they appeal to voters who otherwise would have never voted for the GOP. The proportion of Black men whose support he drew has never been higher. The truth is that Trump's policies have much more appeal than the media would have you believe. Add to that the strong support that he drew from Latinos, and the Republican Party will be a force to be reckoned with in any election. Trump fully intends to remain at the helm of the Republican Party, even if Biden gains the White House by manipulating the vote count. This is the start of an enduring coalition, the likes of which we have not seen since Ronald Reagan.

Another sign of the GOP's strength is the money avalanche that it withstood in the Senate race. Nobody expected the Republicans to hold serve in the red states. The torrent of funding that the Democratic candidates had bordered on the obscene. Nonetheless, they still could not overcome the strong GOP brand in these states. Just ask Lindsey Graham, who was literally buried under a mountain of money. Even with all the dollars and hype, Jaime Harrison still could not exceed the vote share of a typical Democrat in South Carolina. No matter how badly the Republican candidates were outraised, the superstar Democrats did not even come close to victory. The only seats that the Republicans lost were in states that already had Democratic senators.

Even if Trump comes up short, there is no sign of internecine warfare in the Republican camp. Usually, there are storm clouds brewing when a party loses the White House. However, this election was in no way a repudiation of Trump. If Biden wins, it was because the Democrats manipulated vote counting. There is little doubt how the Republican Party will look in 2021. No postmortem is necessary. There is a unified party that is ready to mount a full on assault on the Democrats' majority in the House in the next election.

The Party Is Deep and Has a Strong Bench

The Republicans have a strong bench of candidates and depth in the party. President Trump's success in minority outreach means that the Republicans can run a diverse set of candidates in the 2022 midterms. Plus, there will still be a party leader who can rally the masses. No matter if Trump is in office or not, he will still be there for the Party, rallying his base to support GOP candidates. There will be no leadership vacuum so long as Trump decides that he still wants to be involved. Assuming he does, the direction of the GOP will still be set.

Even if Trump in fact loses, the GOP's brand was strong enough that it was largely able to survive the wholesale defection of the Never Trump Republicans. Even still, Trump grew the GOP from the 2016 election, picking up what looks like 10 million more votes. All the while, he unified the Republicans and weeded out some weaker hands.

Even if the courts do not prevent Biden from taking the election away, shed no tears for the GOP. It is the Democrats who will need to govern without the Senate and with a fractured party. They are the ones where the rank-and-file are out of step with the party leader. The GOP's position is all due to the strength and vision of President Donald J. Trump, who remade the party in his winning image.