Login
|
Subscribe
GO
Search only accepts letters and numbers.
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Home
News
Columns
Brian Howey
Cameron Carter
Linda Chezem
Joshua Claybourn
Jack Colwell
Larry DeBoer
Craig Dunn
Trevor Foughty
Shaw Friedman
Lee Hamilton
Christina Hale
Maureen Hayden
Michael Hicks
Rich James
Terri Jett
David Kitchell
Robert Kraft
Erin Macey
Morton Marcus
Jay Ruckleshaus
Chris Sautter
Mark Schoeff Jr.
Pete Seat
Russ Stilwell
Mark Souder
Tony Samuel
Renee Wilmeth
Downloads
HPI Daily Wire
HPI Weekly PDF's
HPI Polling
HPI Poll April 23, 2013
Howey/DePauw Poll November 2, 2012
Howey-Gauge Poll October 28, 2008
Howey/DePauw Poll September 27, 2012
Howey/DePauw Poll May 4, 2012
Howey/DePauw Poll April 5, 2012
Howey-Gauge Poll September 4, 2008
Howey-Gauge Poll April 29, 2008
Member's Archives
2014 Archives - PDF's
2013 Archives - PDF'S
2012 Archives - PDF's
2011 Archives - PDF's
2010 Archives - PDF's
2009 Archives - PDF's
2008 Archives - PDF's
2007 Archives - PDF's
2006 Archives - PDF's
2005 Archives - PDF's
2004 Archives - PDF's
2003 Archives - PDF's
2002 Archives - PDF's
2001 Archives - PDF's
2000 Archives - PDF's
HPI Videos
About
Contact
Subscribe
Joshua Claybourn: Why GOP should listen to Never Trump
By JOSHUA CLAYBOURN
Thursday, November 10, 2016 10:20 AM
EVANSVILLE – The 2016 election was a resounding success for Indiana Republicans. Outgoing governor Mike Pence is the new vice president, Eric Holcomb will be the next governor, and Republicans won all other statewide races, including state education superintendent. Like the federal government, the Indiana Statehouse is firmly controlled by Republicans.
For the party brass and thousands of Republican political and policy advisors, the incentive will be to celebrate the victories, congratulate themselves on strategy, and rest on the laurels of a fresh victory. Undoubtedly, the Trump/Pence wave carried the day and is driving the Republican Party.
So why should they ever again listen to Never Trump Republicans they might view as losers?
That line of thinking would be a strategic blunder. Trump’s victory appears to be based more on a rejection of Clintonism and liberalism than an embrace of Trump’s ideology. Mitt Romney got 60.9 million votes and lost, while early returns show Donald Trump has 59.1 million votes and is winning. Trump also received less than McCain’s popular vote total in 2008 and came up short of Obama’s winning 2012 vote totals in all of the battleground critical swing states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, and Ohio.
Indiana Republicans didn’t ride a wave of Trump support. Instead, they rode a wave of anti-Clintonism thanks to Democrats staying at home. Moreover, beneath the rosy success for the GOP is an ominous future both in Indiana and nationwide as the party comes to grips with the new Trump brand. Voters under 40 overwhelmingly rejected the party’s vision for the future under Trump, it continued its long struggle with growing minority groups, and educated suburbanites, particularly women, broke ranks with the party.
Ignoring those factions opposed to the Trump brand and the growing demographic changes risks forfeiting an important component of the Republican Party, both now and in the future.
Even those who openly profess to back Trump, or ultimately settled on him as the lesser of two evils, have long harbored substantial misgivings in private about whether he is even equipped to serve as president. When I resigned this spring as a delegate to the Republican National Convention over disgust with Trump’s inevitable nomination, I was inundated with messages of support and agreement from top members of Mike Pence’s staff. Within months their boss was Trump’s running mate and these very same people were decked out in “Make American Great Again” hats and professing their love of all things Trump.
These Republican leaders failed a fundamental test of courage and political leadership by not speaking the truth about what they saw as obvious. And when all else seemed to fail, they resorted to the catchphrases of 1990s-era talk radio.
A small but important and demographically growing divide exists among Republican factions. The future health and vitality of the Indiana GOP depends on mending these divisions. Democrats will not always stay home as they did with Clinton.
Fortunately, there are a number of things which can help heal the GOP in Indiana. Hoosier Republicans would do well to remember the legacy of Mitch Daniels and embrace his optimism and focus on ideas, not ideology. Hoosier Republicans should also begin planning for the future and outlining ideas for the millennial era. Millennials, for example, do not want propaganda and social issue warfare. They want a vibrant and innovative government willing to embrace new challenges.
The Indiana Republican Party is embarking on a new chapter of political dominance, but there is danger in failing to keep the future in mind. It needs to send a clear message that it is forward-looking and working on behalf of all citizens. Hoosiers are counting on them to do the right thing.
Claybourn is an Evansville attorney.
Submit a comment
Please fill out the form below to submit a comment.
Comment
Message is a required field.
Your Name
Email
Phone
Captcha entry is not valid, please try again.
A comment must be approved by our staff before it will displayed on the website.
Submit
X
Pence visits Auschwitz for first time
“It seems to me to be a scene of unspeakable tragedy, reminding us what tyranny is capable of. But it seems to me also to be a scene of freedom’s victory. I traveled in our delegation with people who had family members who had been at Auschwitz — some had survived, some not. But to walk with them and think that two generations ago their forebears came there in box carts and that we would arrive in a motorcade in a free Poland and a Europe restored to freedom from tyranny is an extraordinary experience for us, and I’ll carry it with me the rest of our lives.”
-
Vice President Mike Pence
, who visited the Auschwitz concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland on Friday along with
Second Lady Karen Pence
and Polish
President Andrzej Duda
and
First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda
. It was Pence's first time at the scene where Nazi Germany murdered more than 1.1 million Jews and other groups during the World War II Holocaust.
Our first national park at Indiana Dunes
It continues to amaze me how many folks from central and southern Indiana have never visited Indiana's sea, known to most of us as Lake Michigan. If you need another reason to take a couple hour trip northward on U.S. 31, U.S. 421 or I-65, thank
President Trump
for our first national park. It's now the Indiana Dunes National Park. The move was included in the spending package compromise that Trump signed on Friday, inserted in the legislation with the help of
U.S. Sen. Todd Young
and
U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky.
Visclosky said, "I also am heartened that because of the support of our U.S. Senators, the entire Indiana Congressional delegation, and numerous Northwest Indiana organizations, we have successfully titled the first National Park in our state. This action provides our shoreline with the recognition it deserves, and I hope further builds momentum to improve open and public access to all of our region’s environmental wonders.”
The Dunes includes white sand beaches, trails and an array of flora and bogs, with a front row seat to the Chicago skyline. It richly deserves to be Indiana's first national park.
- Brian A. Howey, publisher
HPI Video Feed
Tweets by @hwypol
The HPI Breaking News App
is now available for iOS & Android!
Home
|
Login
|
Subscribe
|
About
|
Contact
© 2019 Howey Politics, All Rights Reserved • Software © 1998 - 2019
1up!
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
##LOC[Cancel]##