More Anti-Trumpist Conservative Republican Organizations

Since last year, more organizations have been founded by conservatives and Republicans against populist Trumpist policies, namely protectionism, nativism and isolationism, which are anathema to conservatism, and in favor of true conservative policies. The Reagan Caucus: A relatively grassroots organization, the Reagan Caucus (ReaganCaucus.org), focuses on promoting traditional conservative principles and opposing each of the populist Trumpist policies, and particularly supporting the election of conservative Republican candidates who do not share Trumpist views. The Cost Coalition: The Cost Coalition was formed recently, as a project of the bipartisan American Values Alliance. Led by Terry Holt, campaign staffer and former spokesman for President George W. Bush and House Speaker John Boehner, the Cost Coalition focuses on the cost of Donald Trump’s protectionist tariffs, which it identifies as “the biggest middle class tax hike in modern history.” Austin Weatherford, the senior congressional staff person for United States Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, is another prominent Republican staffer for the organization. Our Republican Legacy: Our Republican Legacy (ORL Team & State Chairs | Our Republican Legacy) was founded last year by numerous prominent Republicans and conservatives to promote five traditional conservative Republican principles that the GOP has retreated from under the influence of Trumpism: unity, the Constitution, fiscal responsibility, free enterprise and peace through strength. ORL was founded by former Vice Presidents Dan Quayle and Mike Pence, former Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio, the late Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming, former Senator John Danforth of Missouri, Secretary of Defense William Cohen of Maine, and several other former members of Congress. It was recently relaunched under the joint leadership of Danforth, Cohen, former Montana Governor and Republican National Committee Chairman Mark Racicot, and former U.S. Representatives Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania and Barbara Comstock of Virginia. ORL is staffed and advised by former Washington State Republican Chairman Chris Vance, former Reagan and Bush Administration Treasury official Greg Wilson and former congressional staffers. The organization already has 17 State Chairmen, including one for Pennsylvania, many of whom are current or former elected officials, former congressional or federal or state administration staffers or Republican officials, as well as a former North Carolina State Supreme Court justice. There has been cross-promotion between ORL and Principles First, the grassroots organization I had posted about previously that hosts an increasingly popular alternative to the Trumpist Conservative Political Action Committee conference, and the Reagan Caucus, as it is critical for principled conservatives, though they focus on different niches and hold reasonable differences in perspectives and political strategies, to work together to stand for conservative principles versus Trumpist populism and toward the greater goal of taking back the GOP and especially the conservative movement from Trumpism. The American people deserve a center-right alternative to both the left and Trumpism.