The Future of the GOP
Former President Donald Trump addressing CPAC. Photo from: Los Angeles Times
The recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) focused on many questions regarding the future of the Republican party. CPAC is the biggest event of the year for conservatives who come from all over the country to share their views about issues that they value. This year, because of the GOP's political challenges the CPAC took on and addressed many issues such as COVID-19, Biden's first month as President, and the future of the party.
This year's convention was important for the GOP in many ways with Trump leaving office six weeks ago and Democrats now controlling the White House, the Senate, and the House. The GOP would have to decide whether or not Trump will still remain the leader of the Party or if the GOP would revert back to the old Republican party of Mitt Romney or Mitch McConnell. When Trump was president he took the credit for the change that took place in the Republican Party. The change in the GOP that was made was the change in what the party valued.
When Trump ran for office in 2016 he ran as a businessman, not a typical Washington politician. When campaigning, Trump promised secure borders, the lowest tax cuts in decades, protection towards the second amendment, and fair trade deals with other countries who had been "ripping us off for years." Once Trump won the election and was sworn into office, he acted on things such as border security, lower taxes, and fair trade deals with other countries all within the first weeks of being President. In 2020 while campaigning Trump used the quote "promises made, promises kept." That quote was one of the things he ran off in 2020 after his first term of President.
The old Republican party is what now Trump supporters portray as the old Republican Party of Mitt Romney. Romney who was the 2012 GOP nominee and a US Senator from Utah.
When running for office Romney stood for lower taxes, fair trade deals, and bringing our jobs back to the US, but he really did not campaign for the middle class as much as Donald Trump did. Romney's running mate Paul Ryan who is the Former Speaker of the House, had similar values as Romney. People felt that when Romney was considered the "leader of the GOP'' that the Republican Party was the party for the rich and well-connected. The Democractic Party at the time was considered the party for the middle and lower class.
In conclusion, in my opinion if the Republican Party wants to win elections especially the White House in 2024, then they are going to have to stick with President Trump as opposed to reverting back to the old GOP which was Mitt Romney's party. I also feel that the recent CPAC gave Republicans a good outline of what the future of the GOP could be, and what Former President Trump has in store for the future.