To even slightly imply that Donald Trump no longer wields tremendous power over the GOP would be to say the sky is green. Trump’s been calling shots from the comfort of his home in South Florida where he continues to graciously host an array of Republican dignitaries who share in his plans and ideas for America. It’s his White House away from the White House where the GOP continues to be shaped and molded to better accommodate a more modernistic future for the party.
It would also be an error to assume that once you’ve seen one conservation you’ve seen them all. There’s turmoil within the Republican party. It’s the Flinstonians versus the Jetsons, of which Trump and his avid followers are the latter. They want to forge into the future as America needs them to. Old hat no longer cuts the mustard.
If Donald Trump says someone has to go, they’re as good as gone. His influence was put on full display in Noth Carolina where the oldest conservative fossil in the state just got put out to pasture.
It wasn’t that Republican Gov. Pat McCrory didn’t do his part as one of the faithful. He’s the guy who earned a gold star in N.C. by enacting the controversial “bathroom bill” in 2016 that kept transgenders from preying on kids while they were pooping at the mall.
When McCrory lost the next election by a narrow margin he fell right in line with questioning the results and he refused to concede the race until a month after it ended.
Oddly, it’s McCrory’s straight ahead, never wavering conservative views that are causing him trouble this time out. Sure, he did that one thing in ‘16, but what’s he got now?
In the mind’s eye of North Carolina’s MAGA crowd, McCrory is a washed-up liberal RINO whose rapidly tumbling poll numbers confirm their thoughts.
Welcome to the Trump era. “It is kind of a unique situation at this point in time,” McCrory said. “But to have it be said I’m liberal is ironic because four years ago I was being branded the exact opposite. I’m the same person.”
McCrory pointed out how he and his wife were heckled and ridiculed in public due to his “bathroom bill.” They received death threats and were labeled as bigots. They were shunned from social events. He was a martyr for the cause.
While McCrory served in office the presence of far-left protestors outside of the capitol building was a regular sight. They hated him. McCrory’s top priorities included banning sanctuary cities and keeping undocumented immigrants from applying for food stamps.
Former Republican Gov. Jim Martin, who’s thrown his support behind McCrory said, “Anybody who really knows Pat and pays attention, whether they’re liberal or conservative, they’re not going to call him a liberal.”
Donald Trump, knowing McCrory had already given all he had to give, endorsed his Republican opponent, Ted Budd. Despite this, McCrory was still doing okay living off of his name until the conservative Club for Growth got involved in the election.
The club ended up socking $15 million into Budd’s campaign, even going as far as calling McCrory a “liberal faker” in one of their ads.
McCrory, accepting the writing on the wall, said, “I was probably the original person who was canceled, and now I’m the one being called a liberal. Someone came up to me the other day and said, ‘McCrory, you were DeSantis before DeSantis.’ I said, ‘That’s a unique perspective.’ I stood up to some things that were contrary not just to liberals, but to the power elite of my party.”
McCrory was a fighter in his time and it could just be as simple as the way he went about achieving his goals that run contrary to the party’s new philosophies.
There’s a reason why the modern-day GOP wants to see Budd take home the trophy and perhaps it isn’t up to us to question their decision. Or, is it? What do you think?