With the nation in turmoil, it’s time for local Republicans to own up on Trump
Is it really worth it?
That’s the question each and every elected Republican should be asked, starting immediately.
The same goes for anyone running under the GOP umbrella this August and November.
There’s no more denying it or dodging it. That’s over now. It simply has to be.
Like it or not, what’s apparent is the Republican party is the party of Donald Trump and everything sad, inept and loathsome he stands for — so it’s time to own up, once and for all, for the good of our country and our democracy.
If you’re with Trump, say it.
More importantly, if you’re against Trump, please — please — have the courage and conviction to let it be known.
As we’ve been reminded yet again this week, what’s at stake is far greater than tax policy, car tabs and the size of government. Long gone are the days of Dan Evans, Slade Gorton, Ronald Reagan or even Rob McKenna. Today, the driving force of the Republican party bathes in ignorance, misinformation, bigotry, authoritarianism and its coveted “liberal tears.”
As the last four years has taught us, pretending anything more subtle, moderate or decent is afoot is either naive or foolish. Even if Trump’s base doesn’t make up the vast majority of Republican voters — which feels like a significant if at this point — it doesn’t much matter if the MAGA types are the muscle no one dares crossing.
Unfortunately and no doubt awkwardly, for a cadre of well-known Pierce County Republican leaders — from County Executive Bruce Dammeier to state senators Steve O’Ban and Hans Zeiger and plenty of others — that creates quite an ethical conundrum.
Outwardly none of them are Trump, but because of the separation we’ve historically granted between local politicians and what happens in D.C., rarely — if ever — are they asked about the dangerous GOP standard bearer.
For the sake of the country, it’s time for that grace period to end.
Answering shouldn’t be difficult, because the choices are fairly limited.
They either support what Trump stands for, or they’re being too nearsighted and career-minded to publicly acknowledge they don’t.
Simply put, the stakes are too high for silence. If the Trump administration’s botched response to the coronavirus pandemic wasn’t enough, the aftermath of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police seals the deal.
We’ve now spent a week watching Trump stoke division and violence, authorize the use of flash grenades and billy clubs on peaceful dissenters in the name of a photo-op, and call for the armed suppression of local protests.
We’ve now moved well beyond politics, which should be clear to anyone with a conscience.
So why is it so hard — and so painfully rare — for a Republican in power to look at Trump, grow a backbone and say, “enough is enough”?
‘Only one litmus test to being a Republican now’
It’s a question former state representative and Republican party chair Chris Vance has spent plenty of time mulling.
Vance, as many readers will recall, made a bid to unseat Democrat Sen. Patty Murray in 2016, only to be caught up in the belligerent tsunami that was Trump’s candidacy and eventual ascension to the highest office in the land.
Though beating Murray was always going to be a tall order in Washington state, Vance recalled a point in the campaign in late 2015 — with his opponent and President Barack Obama’s approval ratings both dipping — when he thought he had a chance to be “competitive.”
Then everything changed. When Trump became the Republican party’s presumptive nominee, Vance broke, declaring that he wouldn’t vote for him. His fundraising quickly dried up, Vance says he soon found himself narrowly avoiding physical altercations with Trump supporters, and he lost badly.
At the time of his press conference denouncing Trump’s candidacy, the Seattle Times’ Jim Brunner noted that Vance avoided criticizing other Republican candidates for refusing to take a similar stand.
“Everyone has to make their own decision. There is no playbook for this,” Vance said back then.
Today, Vance — who has since joined on as a senior adviser to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project and recently released a video in support of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden — is far less deferential.
This week, Vance said it’s “absolutely” fair to ask local elected Republicans if they support the current administration.
“You’re a Republican. You’re not running for non-partisan office. You carry the party label,” Vance said. “You are attending local party events, with Trump signs and MAGA hats. You’re going there, and you are de facto supporting that, if not openly supporting that. You can’t be partially in the Republican party.”
It’s perhaps telling that, by his own acknowledgment, Vance’s opposition to Trump has made him a “persona non grata” to many state Republicans. Despite years spent leading the state GOP party, many Republicans, he said, now question whether he ever belonged at all.
It’s precisely the kind of steep price a long-standing Republican elected or aspiring conservative politician would face from the party’s current base if they were to do what he did, Vance said.
That’s why it doesn’t happen, the former party chairman believes.
“The people who want to remain in the party have gotten the message loud and clear. There is only one litmus test to being a Republican now, and that is loyalty to Trump,” Vance said.
“If you show the slightest deviation … You’re done.”
Asked about Trump and presented with the argument this column makes, O’Ban declined to comment while a Dammeier campaign spokesperson indicated he was busy with more pressing matters.
Zeiger, who is running for the County Council seat currently held by Pam Roach, responded via email, writing in part that he doesn’t “consider it my job to opine about everything that happens at the federal level or in the national Republican Party.”
“The growth of political polarization,” Zeiger added, is one factor pushing him toward local government.
“I want to serve in an arena where Democrats, Republicans and independents can work together for the good of our community, where we can demonstrate the power of local action, and where we can engage citizens in making a difference at the neighborhood level,” Zeiger wrote. “I worry that we spend too much time worrying about national politics, when in fact, people are more complex than their identity with a national political party or movement.”
Vance — like many — is incredibly worried about national politics. He described the upcoming presidential election as “the most dangerous moment in American history since 1864.”
By Vance’s calculation, Republicans today who have not “left the party” fall into three categories.
There are those, Vance said, who “agree with (Trump) and love him,” describing this as “a huge percentage of the Republican base who have been waiting for this kind of candidate for decades.”
Then there are those who “don’t love (Trump), but they hate the Democrats more.”
Finally, Vance said, there are Republicans who “know exactly what Trump is and know exactly what this is all doing, but they want to preserve their career in the Republican party” in hopes that “everything will get back to the way it was.”
“At least those first two categories of people are honest,” Vance said.
And that last group?
“Most of them are just being as quiet as they can.”
Given the tumult of the last week, and Trump’s unquestionable incompetence and disdain for democracy, this glaring silence brings us back to the original question for many local Republicans.
Is it really worth it?
“I feel guilty that I didn’t come out against Trump earlier. If everyone (in the GOP) had said ‘no’ … maybe we could have stopped him,” Vance said. “If a thousand Bruce Dammeiers would stand up, it would make a difference.”
Maybe.
Just maybe.
This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
