2022 Republican Primaries in Pennsylvania and across America: Trump vs. Principled Conservatives

The 2022 Republican Primary Elections in Pennsylvania, which were certified last week, and across the Union have been a contest between Donald Trump and Trumpism (protectionism, nativism, isolationism, authoritarianism, corruption, cruelty and dishonesty) on the one side and Reagan-Thatcher-style conservatives and moderates on the other. Most Trump-endorsed candidates won their Republican nominations as the overwhelming majority of candidates in the primaries either had sought Trump’s endorsement, or at least were Trumpist or had publicly acquiesced to him and Trumpism, through silence or by offering little criticism. Trump is still regarded as by the GOP as its leader. But there were notable exceptions in key contests in various States, where Trump-endorsed candidates lost, including to Trump critics. The nomination of some of the most Trumpist candidates have jeopardized the Republicans’ chances in the General Election in November. They also left divisions in the party in States like Pennsylvania, where local party leaders and members openly rejected Trump’s interference and preferences for those less true to conservative or even to Trumpism. Trump’s main criterion for support was not the party’s platform or conservative principles, but fealty to him and acceptance of his false claims of election fraud against him in the 2020 election, despite the revelations from the bipartisan January 6 Congressional Committee investigating the Trump-inspired insurrection that disrupted the certification of the vote of the Electoral College. His claims and those of his supporters were rejected by many Republican election officials, members of Congress and judges, among others. In addition to Trump’s dominance of the party, another factor was overt support by Democrats for the most extreme Trumpist candidates as a strategy to make it easier for Democratic nominees to defeat such Republican nominees in the General Election. This foolish strategy, however, risks defeat to conspiracy-theorists and radicals who espouse authoritarian and nativist beliefs, and even at best, increases the influence of Trump over the GOP and further marginalizes true principled conservatives within the Republican Party. Republicans must continue to reject Trump and Trumpism by nominating principled, qualified candidates untainted by either and Democrats should stop being short-sighted and focus instead on what is better for America, which is that one of the two major parties ought not to be an unprincipled cult of personality that is corrosive of politics and representative government.