With never-Trump conservatives bailing on the GOP and crying out for the Party of Pelosi to save us, some painful truths need to be restated.
The Republican Party of Bush I and II, of Bob Dole and John McCain, is history. It’s not coming back. Unlike the Bourbons after the Revolution and the Terror, after Napoleon and the Empire, no restoration is in the cards.
It is over. The GOP’s policies of recent decades — the New World Order of George H.W. Bush, the crusades for democracy of Bush II — failed, and are seen as having failed. With Trump’s capture of the party they were repudiated.
There will be no turning back.
What were the historic blunders?
It was not supporting tax cuts, deregulation, conservative judges and justices, or funding a defense second to none. Donald Trump has delivered on these as well as any president since Reagan.
The failures that killed the Bush party, and that represented departures from Reaganite traditionalism and conservatism, are:
First, the hubristic drive, despite the warnings of statesmen like George Kennan, to exploit our Cold War victory and pursue a policy of permanent containment of a Russia that had lost a third of its territory and half its people.
We moved NATO into Eastern Europe and the Baltic, onto her doorstep. We abrogated the ABM treaty Nixon had negotiated and moved defensive missiles into Poland. John McCain pushed to bring Ukraine and Georgia into NATO, and even to send U.S. forces to face off against Russian troops.
Thus we got a second Cold War that need never have begun and that our allies seem content to let us fight alone.
Europe today is not afraid of Vladimir Putin reaching the Rhine. Europe is afraid of Africa and the Middle East reaching the Danube.
Let the Americans, who relish playing empire, pay for NATO.
Second, in a reflexive response to 9/11, we invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, dumped over the regime in Libya, armed rebels to overthrow Bashar Assad in Syria, and backed Saudi intervention in a Yemeni civil war, creating a humanitarian crisis in that poorest of Arab countries that is exceeded in horrors only by the Syrian civil war.
Since Y2K, hundreds of thousands in the Middle East have perished, the ancient Christian community has all but ceased to exist, and the refugees now number in the millions. What are the gains for democracy from these wars, all backed enthusiastically by the Republican establishment?
Why are the people responsible for these wars still being listened to, rather than confessing their sins at second-thoughts conferences?
The GOP elite also played a crucial role in throwing open U.S. markets to China and ceding transnational corporations full freedom to move factories and jobs there and ship their Chinese-made goods back here, free of charge.
Result: In three decades, the U.S. has run up $12 trillion in merchandise trade deficits — $4 trillion with China — and Beijing’s revenue from the USA has more than covered China’s defense budget for most of those years.
Beijing swept past Italy, France, Britain, Germany and Japan to become the premier manufacturing power on earth and a geo-strategic rival. Now, from East Africa to Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean, and from the South and East China Sea to Taiwan, Beijing’s expansionist ambitions have become clear.
And where are the Republicans responsible for building up this potentially malevolent power that thieves our technology? Talking of building a Reagan-like Navy to contain the mammoth they nourished.
Since the Cold War, America’s elites have been exhibiting symptoms of that congenital blindness associated since Rome with declining and falling empires.
While GOP grass roots have begged for measures to control our bleeding southern border, they were regularly denounced as nativists by party elites, many of whom are now backing Trump’s wall.
For decades, America’s elites failed to see that the transnational moment of the post-Cold War era was passing and an era of rising nationalism and tribalism was at hand.
“We live in a time,” said U2’s Bono this week, “when institutions as vital to human progress as the United Nations are under attack.”
The institutions Bono referenced — the U.N., EU, NATO — all trace their roots to the 1940s and 1950s, a time that bears little resemblance to the era we have entered, an era marked by a spreading and desperate desire of peoples everywhere to preserve who and what they are.
No, Trump didn’t start the fire.
The world was ablaze with tribalism and was raising up authoritarians to realize nationalist ends — Xi Jinping, Putin, Narendra Modi in India, Erdogan in Turkey, Gen. el-Sissi in Egypt — before he came down that escalator.
And so the elites who were in charge when the fire broke out, and who failed to respond and refused even to recognize it, and who now denounce Trump for how he is coping with it, are unlikely to be called upon again to lead this republic.
Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of a new book, “Nixon’s White House Wars: The Battles That Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever.” To find out more about Patrick Buchanan and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at www.creators.com.
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C’mon NT-ers. Man up and admit you were wrong. We’ll forgive you and let you in.
Not a chance. I don’t want these closet liberals in the GOP. Let them form their own party. They’re way too wimpy for the Democrats.
And if they were never trumpers before, HOW can we ever trust them now! I say push them all to the curb.
We need a whole new type of Republican! Never Trumpers and RINOs are our cancer! It will take many years and we only get Trump for eight years total!
From the article above: “It is over. The GOP’s policies of recent decades — the New World Order of George H.W. Bush, the crusades for democracy of Bush II — failed, and are seen as having failed. With Trump’s capture of the party they were repudiated.” I agree with this portion of your article, Pat. From the article above: “We moved NATO into Eastern Europe and the Baltic, onto her doorstep. We abrogated the ABM treaty Nixon had negotiated and moved defensive missiles into Poland. John McCain pushed to bring Ukraine and Georgia into NATO, and even to send U.S. forces to face off against Russian troops.” I have no problem with the Eastern European countries in NATO, as long as they pay their fair share, because Putin cannot be trusted. So I disagree with you there, Pat.
But right now, neither can our so called allies in Nato, be trusted.. Just look at how many HAVE NOT paid their fair share, and BALKED when trump told them to start doing so..
Our so-called allies in Nato are nothing more than leeches along with the EU! They need to clean their ranks. The Swamp lives there also!
This type of swamp, certainly exists in Europe.. They are called GLOBALISTS!
“The Never-Trumpers Are Never Coming Back……. The Republican Party of Bush I and II, of Bob Dole and John McCain, is history. It’s not coming back.”………… THANK GOD FOR THAT.
Have they actually left though? IMO No. They just went silent.
I would re-word some things. If they had any sense, the “never Trump”ers would come back to the fold, but they can forget about ever having any sway or control again. Every one of them named was a loser, a failure, a charlatan, and WRONG… and are to never be trusted again.
Hence why i say don’t let any back in period. KICK them all out of congress, and get NEW blood in there.
Agreed. We got a look at your true faces and we were disgusted. There’s no point in letting the likes of Flake, McCain, Kasich, or Bush back inside by the warm fire. You America-hating losers can all shiver outside in the snow.
Too harsh? They wanted Hillary to win over Trump. There is no too harsh. They must be removed from all levels of power.
And before that they allowed the Dems to bring America low. They are complicit. They are accomplices. They share the blame. You could never convince me any of them love America. All must go. Now get out and never ever come back.
I’m especially upset with GWB. For the first 6 years of his administration he had a GOP Congress. He could have balanced the budget. He could have cut taxes and made them permanent. He could have done a lot of things. Instead he wanted war.
Worse, he wanted “nation building”. Um, so where’s the future deterrence for countries to attack America? I say leave them as smoking craters. That’s Trump’s current thinking.
[Worse, he wanted “nation building”. Um, so where’s the future deterrence for countries to attack America? I say leave them as smoking craters. That’s Trump’s current thinking.]
That’s something i’ve often wondered too. WHY DID WE start nation building, with how we helped japan and Germany rebuild after WW2? WE should have left both places in rubble..
If the Republican Party is going to abandon its long proud history in favor of a Trumpublican model the Party is in serious trouble. Trump can serve six more years or so. There’s a good chance that one of his lawyers or advisors have convinced him by now that he can’t “serve four terms like FDR.”
The Trumpublican Party can only win with Trump at its head. President Trump is seventy-two. He has no heir apparent in his family. Can Don, Jr., Erik, or Ivanka fire up a crowd like their father? Maye Barron in 2048 or so? But who else could hold together Trump’s coalition until then?
Trump is a strong personality – Maybe the strongest in the Presidency since George Washington. Can anyone on this site think of someone Trump would allow to outshine him as the next President?
I find you commentary most interesting. In particular your use of the term “long proud history”. I wonder what “long proud history” has to do with contemporary RINO Republican history, or even contemporary democrat history. Both parties have blatantly sold out the US Citizen for at least the last 20+ years. Trump is a game changer who broke the republican political mold. Should his political style and accomplishments work, any potential successor (and not necessarily a family member) would be foolish not to follow in Trumps footsteps. Dittos for the sorry assed Obama democrats too. They might shift to the right but highly doubt that. Odds are they will most likely nominate a mini-me-Obama pursuing the typical democrat (Soros funded and dominated) radical left wing agenda in concert with the fraudulent media.
We may be looking at a Sea Change at least with republican party, but as you suggest only time will tell. Best regards,
Can it, Jim. You better worry about the rest of this Trump’s time in office before you start worrying about the next Trump. It isn’t going to go well for you radical jackasses. People are waking up to what the current Democrat party stands for and they don’t like it.
[Can Don, Jr., Erik, or Ivanka fire up a crowd like their father? ]
From what i’ve heard, both Erick and Ivanka are rather LIBERAL.. Same as Don jr.. So i doubt they can fire up a crowd like dad..
So what. Are you looking for a Trump dynasty?? I thought we all outgrew that after the Bushes and Clintons?
While i’d rather NO more dynasties period, i do feel that we wouldn’t even be able to get that, if we nominated trump Jr or the other two..
Good article.
I only WISH the crybaby RINO’s would develop the mental capacity to fathom the disaster that they are and that they have left for ourselves and future generations to mop up.
NEVER believe the “earnest promises” given by America’s enemies. Never give them anything whatsoever until they have conclusively proven that they have fully complied with their side of the agreement (which will not happen). Understand, instead, that it is only natural for liars to habitually tell lies and to swear that it is the truth.
Communists are liars. Democrats are liars. RINO’s are liars. Even some “good” Republicans are liars. Do your homework then choose very carefully in the primary election.
IMO that is why i’d LOVE TO CURSE everyone who ever gets into politics, with the Pinnochio curse.. To where their nose grows 1 inch EVERY TIME they lie..
I agree in oeverall spirit with what Buchanan has to say here. Certainly the “establishment” of the Republican Party is COMPLETELY out of synch and out of touch with the world as it is today–and the mood and priorities of the American people, as well!
But, here is the part where I REALLY part company with his analysis:
“Second, in a reflexive response to 9/11, we invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, dumped over the regime in Libya, armed rebels to overthrow Bashar Assad in Syria, and backed Saudi intervention in a Yemeni civil war, creating a humanitarian crisis in that poorest of Arab countries that is exceeded in horrors only by the Syrian civil war.”
A lot of the destablizations he mentions here were instituted, NOT by the Republicans, but by OBAMA–he basically set the ENTIRE Middle East on fire with his Arab Spring “regime change” BS in service to the NWO goal of driving the MUSLIM HORDES to flood Western democratic countries with MILLIONS of Islamic “asylum seekers” in order to further the goal of COLLAPSING those countries and HERDING them into a globalist/Communist collective.
Jimmy Carter should send Obama flowers every day as thanks for saving him from continuing to be the worst president ever in American history.
Though true, all that happened under obama (syria and lybia), BUSH jr started the ball rolling in Iraq/afgan…
There is no Bush Jr. and never has been. You’re parroting a slur from the left.
George HW bush, was the SR (father to George W bush).. SO yes he is the JR..
Hm.. Seems someone doesn’t like me pointing out facts.. Must be our resident liberal troll, to whom facts are verbotten..
Ituser, I think that to be considered a JR you have to have all of the same names, that included both middle names.