Trump is Driving out Talented Republicans for MAGA Mediocrities

Colossal decline in competence and character mark those embraced by Trump

When Republicans took over the House last year, there was no brighter future star than Wisconsin's Mike Gallagher, a smart, conservative, credentialed, attractive Marine veteran and policy wonk.

He was tapped to head the sensitive select committee on China. Democrats feared he'd run for the Senate.

In three weeks Gallagher, 40 years old, is quitting Congress in the middle of his fourth term, That's a reflection of what a awful job it is to be a smart principled conservative in the Republican-led House. Much of that derives from Donald Trump, the Capo dei capi, or boss who gives the orders to House GOP leaders on matters ranging from impeachments to immigration to political tone.

It is now the Trump Republican party in primaries, policies and personnel.

Win or lose this year, Trump leaves an enduring stain with the people he has driven from office like Liz Cheney. They have been replaced by MAGA sycophants.

"The members Trump is bringing in have lowered the quality of Congress and are driving out talented people like Mike Gallagher," says Barbara Comstock, a former Virginia Congresswoman, once considered a conservative stalwart but who is repulsed by Trump.

Photo by Darren Halstead on Unsplash

The insurgents claim they're replacing establishment Republicans--they call them RINOs as in Republicans in name only--with populists closer to grass roots voters. On matters like income inequality or taxes these are faux populists.

I think this is more a reprise of the battle for the soul of the party during the Reagan years: the Jack Kemp forces advocating an inclusive opportunity-oriented party versus those of Jesse Helms, a more negative, divisive vision.

It was hope versus hate.

This current struggle, now dominated by the hate faction, has little to do with ideology, it's about fealty to the grand leader and his vitriolic brand of politics.

Prior to January 6th, Liz Cheney was Republican royalty. She was the third ranking and smartest Republican leader in the House. With impeccable conservative credentials, she was the future.

She was horrified by the Trump-inspired insurrection to overturn the legitimate 2020 Presidential election, and moved to impeach him.

He went after her and Cheney was trounced in a Wyoming primary by Harriet Hageman whose 15 months in the House have been marked by loudly calling Democrats liars at congressional hearings and proposing to crack down on trans athletes. What a contrast with her predecessor!

Ohio Congressman Anthony Gonzales would have been Jack Kemp's dream. The grandson of Cuban immigrants, a professional football player, MBA from Stanford, entrepreneur, inclusive-mined conservative. He was a real comer until he joined Liz Cheney to impeach Trump after January 6. The unpleasantries and threats to his family were so unsettling that he chose not to run for reelection.

The man who jumped into replace him was Max Miller, a Trump campaign aide whose specialty was picking out music at political rallies, A rich kid he got in a lot of scrapes. It carried over to the White House when another Trump aide accused him of physically abusing her. He very publicly sued for defamation; quietly he dropped the suit. He's now a member of Congress.

Bob Corker was in the line of moderately conservative Tennessee Republican Senators, who left a mark, starting with Howard Baker. Corker was a player on the Banking committee and chairman of the Foreign Relations panel, usually working with Democrats. He finally had enough of President Trump who he labeled "reckless," a kiss of death for him in the Trump party.

When he didn't run for reelection he was replaced by a right winger, Marsha Blackburn, committed to never getting on the wrong side of her leader. When shortly after the 2020 election she correctly called Joe Biden "the President-elect" she immediately backed down and turned to conspiracy theories. When Trump was indicted last year she attributed it to an FBI "vendetta" and raised the false charge that President Biden was implicated in bribery scheme from a foreign government.

Most of these Trump-embraced replacements are lightweights. Ohio's JD Vance is not. But he is profoundly different from the Republican he succeeded, Sen Rob Portman. I criticized Portman for not standing up to Trump. Yet he was a deeply substantive, often bi-partisan, lawmaker on issues ranging from budget and taxes to health care to foreign policy matters like Ukraine.

Vance, once a Trump critic, has gone super MAGA ever since running for the Senate. He styles himself a radical who wants to totally overhaul government though that's more rhetoric than specifics. He cites his close associates as Steve Bannon, Donald Trump Jr. and Tucker Carlson a trio of troglodytes.

Vance says then-Vice President Mike Pence shouldn't have fulfilled his duty in certifying the legitimacy of the last Presidential election and suggests the second Trump Administration should ignore any "illegitimate" Supreme Court decisions. He is contemptuous of assistance to Ukraine and isn't worried about Russia's designs.

These are what Donald Trump spawned. They are a colossal decline in competence and character.