In 2006, I ran in the Republican primary for US House of Reps, against Charlie Bass. Charlie won, but then he lost to the Democrat, Paul Hodes. In 2008, Jennifer Horn ran against Paul Hodes and lost, and then, in 2010, she ran against Charlie Bass and lost in the primary.
Eventually Horn became chair of the NH Republican State Committee.
On December 17, 2020, Ms. Horn announced that she was leaving the Republican Party. She said: “Today’s Republican Party cannot co-exist with the ideal that we know America can be.” Her video on YouTube that day got a wide range of comments. For example, this one from a lady in Oklahoma:
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“I have four dogs that I love and they love me back. Whenever I catch them doing something wrong, all I have to do is ask who did it and the guilty one will react with what appears to be remorse and or shame, something Trump or the GOP seem incapable of doing.”
I will comment on that below, but first, here’s an odd remark made yesterday by The Lincoln Project. (I’m not sure it’s the same organization that Jennifer Horn co-founded.)
“Tonight [August 16, 2022], the nation marks the end of the Republican Party. What remains shares the name and branding of the traditional GOP, but is in fact an authoritarian nationalist cult dedicated only to Donald Trump. Liz Cheney stood up to the lawless, reckless attack on our nation led by Donald Trump … and risked and lost her political career as a Republican.
“The Wyoming GOP, supported by millions of corporate dollars from Kevin McCarthy, nominated a reality-denying conspiracy theorist who promotes the “Big Lie.” [Liz Cheney] remains an essential leader of the pro-democracy forces in the United States ….”
Needless to say, I disagree that the Jan 6 Invasion was “led by” Donald Trump. (Anybody can see who really staged it.) And I disagree that The Big Lie is a conspiracy theory — all elections can be software’d if someone has enough drive to do it.
As for the Lincoln Project’s remark that Liz Cheney “is a leader of the pro-democracy forces,” well, please, it should not be dignified with a rebuttal.
Now to the Oklahoma dog owner. Her dogs have enough — whatever — to sense when they are wrong. Clearly, Donald Trump doesn’t have even a gram of that “whatever.” I am not too worried about this lack; his personality is easy to interpret — Trump has to be the Biggest and Best at all times.
But I take seriously the (dog-related) claim about the GOP’s inability to apologize when wrong. That behavior is a normal function of in-group loyalty. It is a problem for every group. Loyalty is an indispensable virtue for our success as a group (nation, club, family, profession, etc.). We praise a loyal person for his moral character, right?
But wait a minute! If loyalty makes one say that a policy of one’s Party, or profession, was good when it’s widely known to have been lousy, that’s clearly not helpful to the Party or the profession. Furthermore, the Enemy (you know whom I mean) will get an extra advantage by mocking the ill-placed loyalty.
I see this all the time. No one wants to be the first to say a negative word, as one will get a very dirty look for being disloyal.
Perhaps Republicans could hold a secret meeting in a sort of Faraday cage, where the chairman will ask members to “go over” some Republican mantras. Anyone who acts “stupidly loyal” will get a rap on the knuckles.
All in the family, all away from reporters.
Honest, I’m not saying the GOP line is in trouble. I think it’s great and am famously committed to it. But these are new times, and something brilliant could emerge if loyalty to the past could stop being the overarching criterion.
Isn’t that how history is made?