Primaries are messy. Regardless of the office being sought, candidates vying for their party’s nomination have to walk a fine line between touting their own qualifications and exposing the shortcomings of their opponents without alienating voters they’re counting on for support.
It wasn’t always like this. Before the early 20th century, candidates for office were selected at political conventions attended by party leaders and power brokers without much input from regular folks. This process kept intra-party conflict out of the public eye, but it was susceptible to corruption, as getting on the ticket often required cutting secret deals with other candidates and their supporters—an activity symbolized by the proverbial “smoke-filled room.”
While primaries have their shortcomings—the preferences of the most informed and passionate are diluted by those with less knowledge and interest, and, depending on the rules, voters aligned with another party are allowed to participate—they’re an institution of the current political process, and candidates for office must navigate them successfully to get elected.
As the avenues of communication and the opportunities for people to express their opinions have proliferated, political debate (and party primaries in particular) has become increasingly rancorous, and presidential campaigns take the cake. While this year’s GOP primary hasn’t (yet) elicited the intensity of emotion that characterized the 2016 campaign, there’s certainly been plenty of mudslinging, and, like eight years ago, there’s growing concern that the eventual nominee will have difficulty uniting Republican voters behind his or her candidacy.
Here’s a rundown of some of the more salacious accusations.
Ron DeSantis wears heel lifts and bribed a prominent influencer for his endorsement.
Donald Trump is making excuses for not fulfilling a major campaign promise and is ducking the debates because he isn’t willing to defend his record as president.
Nikki Haley is a "warmonger" and a “puppet” for “globalist RINO donors."
Vivek Ramaswamy is too inexperienced and can’t be trusted because he has ties to Big Pharma and the Soros family.
As you might remember, the acrimonious 2016 campaign produced the “Never Trump” movement representing a significant number of Republican voters who refused to back their party’s nominee. In fact, the vocal resistance to Trump probably contributed to the widespread assumption that Hillary Clinton would win the election, depressing her turnout and allowing Trump to pull off the upset.
Ted Cruz, Trump’s chief rival for the nomination, didn’t do much to quell this resistance when he declined to give him a full-throated endorsement at the GOP convention in July, encouraging people instead to “vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.” Cruz would later backtrack, saying he would vote for Trump to stop Hillary Clinton from becoming president, but it was clear he wasn’t excited about doing so.
His reluctance to support Trump is understandable. The billionaire real estate developer and former reality TV star consistently referred to him as “Lyin’ Ted,” mocked his wife for her looks, and suggested his father was involved in the Kennedy assassination. Cruz, on the other hand, said Trump lacked the judgment and moral conviction to be president and accused him of being a “pathological liar,” a “serial philanderer,” and a “narcissist.”
With his party in turmoil, Trump was forced to take steps to shore up support for his candidacy.
He released a list of potential Supreme Court nominees to fill the recently deceased Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat, a move intended to allay conservatives’ concerns about the judicial philosophy of those sitting on the nation’s highest court.
And he picked Indiana Governor Mike Pence to be his vice president. Pence had endorsed Cruz before his state’s primary and was fairly popular among evangelicals, many of whom had backed Cruz during the primary.
As we saw in 2020, Democrats aren’t willing to take any chances on a second Trump term, and you can bet they’ll do anything to stop him again in 2024.
Given this reality and the likelihood that Trump will be the Republican nominee—not to mention a serious independent run by RFK Jr.—the party can’t afford any division going into the general election.
Trump (or the eventual nominee) should take a lesson from Ronald Reagan’s 1980 run for president.
During that election cycle, Reagan handily defeated George H. W. Bush for the GOP nomination after losing some early contests, including Iowa. Although Reagan was the heavy favorite and regarded as the more conservative of the two, Bush presented a respectable challenge, refusing to drop out until Reagan acquired a majority of delegates at the end of May, more than four months after the Iowa caucuses.
During the course of the campaign, Reagan advocated cutting taxes to jumpstart the flagging economy, which he argued would have the effect of increasing revenue for the federal government. Bush dismissed this policy as “voodoo economics,” arguing it would only increase inflation. On the other hand, Reagan said Bush avoided getting into specific policy solutions and only spoke in “bland generalities.”
As the convention approached, Reagan was rumored to be eyeing former President Gerald Ford as his running mate. However, he eventually settled on Bush, his biggest rival and fiercest critic, to fortify his base of support and appeal to the moderate wing of the party. Even though Jimmy Carter was especially unpopular, Republican Congressman John Anderson of Illinois had decided to run as an independent, so Reagan knew he couldn’t take any chances.
Reagan won a decisive victory later that year and was reelected in a historic landslide in 1984.
As Democrats show no signs of letting up in their attacks against our nation’s institutions and our individual liberties, the GOP nominee for president should remember how Reagan won and consider extending an olive branch to one of his or her rivals by joining forces to reclaim the White House.
Could that happen?
Each of the remaining candidates insists they’re in the race to win, but nothing in politics is guaranteed, and things can change in a hurry.
Let’s hope whoever comes out on top will do what it takes to win one (or two) like the Gipper.
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