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The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States in
November 2016 was a political earthquake, one supporters and
detractors alike agree has changed the course of history. The
policy implications have been stark and will continue well beyond
his presidency. The political implications have been perhaps even
more drastic—for both political parties. Trump has shaken the
40-year-old coalition of traditional conservatives, orthodox
religious voters, and free-market libertarians that has
long-composed the Republican Party. The Republican Resistance:
#NeverTrump Conservatives and the Future of the GOP explores the
members of that coalition, especially traditional,
establishment-oriented Republicans and conservative intellectuals
who opposed his candidacy, who generally still oppose his
presidency, and who represent the elite-in-waiting that believes it
will have to rebuild the GOP when the Trump coalition implodes. In
the end, The Republican Resistance argues that the Trump presidency
and the #NeverTrump countermovement reflect key features of modern
American politics which both major political parties must contend:
the rise of a populist insurgency intent on overtaking the parties
from within and challenges of embracing demographic and structural
realities on the one hand while catering to a political base often
built to oppose those trends on the other.
Donald Trump has faced unprecedented opposition from members of his
own party to his candidacy, election, and presidency. This
opposition, known collectively as #NeverTrump Republicans, opposes
Trump for a variety of reasons, but is united in its assessment
that he is temperamentally unfit to be president. The contributors
in The Republican Resistance: #NeverTrump Conservatives and the
Future of the GOP detail the origins of this movement, with
particular focus on the 2016 election cycle, and explore how
#NeverTrump opponents have continued their resistance through the
Trump presidency. The contributors argue that the Trump presidency
and the #NeverTrump opposition represent a key feature of modern
American politics in which both major American political parties
must contend: the rise of a populist insurgency intent on
overtaking the party from within. The Republican Resistance
examines the implications of this populist revolt on the GOP and
the challenges of embracing demographic and structural realities on
the one hand while catering to a political base built to oppose
those trends on the other.
While Christian conservatives had been active in national politics
for decades and had achieved a seat at the table by working with
the Republican Party, the 1980s and 1990s saw them make significant
strides by injecting issues of moral traditionalism into U.S. House
races across the country. Christian conservative activists worked
diligently to nominate friendly candidates and get them elected.
These moral victories transformed the Republican House delegation
into one that was much more culturally conservative and created a
new Republican majority. In Moral Victories, Marty Cohen seeks to
chronicle this significant political phenomenon and place it in
both historical and theoretical contexts. This is a story not only
of the growing importance of moral issues but also of the way party
coalitions change, and how this particular change began with
religiously motivated activists determined to ban abortion, thwart
gay rights, and restore traditional morality to the country.
Beginning in the early 1980s, and steadily building from that
point, religious activists backed like-minded candidates.
Traditional Republican candidates, more concerned about taxes and
small government, resisted the newcomers and were often defeated.
As a result, increasing numbers of House Republican nominees were
against abortion and gay rights. Voters responded by placing moral
issues above their interests in economic policies, which led to the
election of ever more socially conservative representatives. As a
result, the House Republican caucus evolved from a body that
advocated largely for low taxes and small government to one equally
invested in moral and social issues, especially abortion and gay
rights. The new moralistic Republican candidates were able to win
in districts where traditional business Republicans could not,
thereby creating the foundation for a durable Republican majority
in the House and reshaping the American political landscape.
Throughout the contest for the 2008 Democratic presidential
nomination, politicians and voters alike worried that the outcome
might depend on the preferences of unelected superdelegates. This
concern threw into relief the prevailing notion that--such
unusually competitive cases notwithstanding--people, rather than
parties, should and do control presidential nominations. But for
the past several decades, "The Party Decides" shows, unelected
insiders in both major parties have effectively selected candidates
long before citizens reached the ballot box.
Tracing the evolution of presidential nominations since the 1790s,
this volume demonstrates how party insiders have sought since
America's founding to control nominations as a means of getting
what they want from government. Contrary to the common view that
the party reforms of the 1970s gave voters more power, the authors
contend that the most consequential contests remain the candidates'
fights for prominent endorsements and the support of various
interest groups and state party leaders. These invisible primaries
produce frontrunners long before most voters start paying
attention, profoundly influencing final election outcomes and
investing parties with far more nominating power than is generally
recognized.
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