The past year on the national scene was characterized as one test after another for Republicans — not just of their drive to retake control of Congress but of the value system that determined how far they would go to reach their goal. They were asked repeatedly to stand for something other than the pursuit of raw, populist political power. When Russia launched its brutal invasion of Ukraine, the Democratic Party leadership was resolute and unequivocal in support of Ukraine. The Republicans? Well, not so resolute.
When the House investigatory committee dug deeply into its investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, most Americans sided with Democratic leaders in their desire to identify how it happened and who was responsible. The Republican leadership wanted to talk about the weather, sports, books — anything else but the threat the insurrection posed to democracy.
No matter the subject, when it came time to take a stand in defense of a value worth fighting for, the GOP leadership chose the pursuit of political power over all else. It was a huge gamble that clearly didn’t yield anywhere close to the dividends Republicans had hoped for on Election Day. That’s because the American people have been fooled once by this brand of populist politics, and they refused to be fooled again. At least not this election cycle.
