The phrase RINO – Republican in Name Only – has been thrown about by the MAGA crowd for much of the past 8 years to diminish and vilify Republican leaders (elected officials) who fail to tow the line of the President. So let’s examine what it means to be a Republican.

Let me start by saying that political parties evolve – their views are not static. The most significant change of the Democratic Party has been their shift from supporting slavery and then segregation (through the 19th and the first half of the 20th century) to being a party favoring civil rights and rejecting racial segregation. The Republicans shifted from supporting civil rights regardless of race to embracing ‘state’s rights’ that were intended to continue to diminish the civil rights of minorities (through Jim Crow law methods). These realignments tend to be gradual and have some basis in some other philosophy of the party (for instance, the ‘state’s rights’ element for Republicans was aligned with their adherence to the philosophy of Federalism (not just their racism), enshrined in the Constitution).

So what have been the foundational ethos of the Republican Party (in the 20th and early 21st century)? There have been a few consistent elements:

1. Belief in smaller government – this is in both size and impact. In size, this is intended to mean less federal (and state) government spending. In impact, this means lower regulation – of businesses and also of people’s lives (a libertarian streak, if you will).
2. Fiscal responsibility – for a long while, the Republican Party included a desire for a balanced federal budget (advocating for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution). At the same time, they have advocated for lower taxes, particularly on corporations (to increase economic competitiveness, per the 2012 Republican platform).
3. Belief in free market capitalism – government needs to get out of the way and let the free markets increase the wealth for all. Lower taxes. Lower regulation. Facilitate free and open markets all around the world, through free trade.
4. Reverence for the Constitution – this incorporates Federalism (as per the 10th Amendment, ‘any powers not specifically given to the federal government, nor withheld from the states, are reserved to those respective states or to the people at large.’), separation of powers between the Congress and the Executive, embracing the Bill of Rights (with freedom of religion and right to bear arms most revered).

Now we can debate whether the party of Lincoln has managed to walk-the-walk when it comes to these ideals. But they have consistently embraced them as a part of their DNA.

But do they embrace these ideals today? Let’s examine them one at a time, through the lens of the Trump Administration:

1. Smaller government – the administration has been actively taking a red marker to government regulations, much as every Republican Administration has after taking over from a Democratic Administration. But at the same time, they intend to add 20,000 people to the Dept of Homeland Security (read ICE) following the 19,000 added during the last administration. The President has pressured Coca Cola to use sugar instead of corn syrup in their cola recipe. He pressured the head of Intel to give the government 10% of the company in exchange for the CHIPS Act loans and grants they were getting. He pressured Nippon Steel to give the government a ‘golden share’ in their business in exchange for approving the acquisition of US Steel (with largely nebulous authorities). These are industrial policy interventions more commonly associated with Social Democratic governments in Europe. No small government here.
2. Fiscal Responsibility – the last Party platform excluded the long embraced objective of a balanced federal budget. This played out in the 10 year budget bill passed by Republicans in July. That bill calls for increased spending as far as the eye can see and national debt levels that are frighteningly high. They continue to pass tax cuts (that far exceed their spending cuts). But, the Trump Administration has been imposing tariff increases (at will and seemingly on impulse) that tax imports made by American companies at a rate that far outstrips the tax cuts they get. Nothing about this appears to be fiscally responsible, and Americans are paying the price.
3. Belief in free market capitalism – If anything, the Administration appears to have adopted crony capitalism in its stead. If you kiss-up to the powers that be, you will be rewarded – if not you will be punished. Apple gives gaudy gifts and face time to the President and gets their iPhones exempted from tariffs. Argentina’s ruling party (and Trump ally) needs a boost to the economy before an election, so calls Trump for economic assistance – and gets it to the tune of $40B in currency swaps to hold up the sinking peso. Argentina turned around a gave China millions of tons of soybeans with no export taxes – harming American soybean farmers who are on the brink of bankruptcy. The Administration’s solution are welfare payments to the farmers, when all the farmers (who voted for the Republicans) want are markets to sell their goods. And in the meantime, tariffs are rising at astonishing rates (from 2.4% to 18%) – not simply on goods where we compete but also goods we don’t have a domestic source or capacity (think coffee). Milton Friedman is rolling in his grave.
4. Reverence for the Constitution – One can say they revere the Constitution, but when the Constitution is ignored by the Executive do you have the will to defend it? The Congress has seen its appropriation bills ignored. They have seen the very line-item vetoes (and recissions) that were overturned by the Supreme Court less than three decades ago. The President has been declaring an undeclared war on Venezuela, shooting up boats at sea and announcing publicly (!) a CIA covert op in that country – all without any Congressional oversight or invocation of the War Powers Act. And the persistent use of National Guard troops to perform civil law enforcement in cities and states that fail to request it crosses so many Federalism ideas that one might wonder how self-labeled Republicans would feel if a Democratic President had done so. How could they protest? The suspension of probable cause and downright disappearing of people off of the streets of America by ICE agents (including citizens) – this is a rejection of the Constitution.

The future of the Republican Party showed its stripes this week, with the release of private messages from Young Republican leaders (aged 24 to 35, for those thinking that these were kids). The messages illustrated the fascist-loving, racist inclinations of the members who are most attracted to the new Republican Party. Antisemitism? Check. Racist rhetoric? Check. Holocaust revival? Check. And the Vice-President’s reaction? ‘Kids will be kids.’

It’s pretty clear that the Republican Party is the GOP in name only. Perhaps this is why only about 30% of Americans call themselves Republicans. Maybe Republican is just a brand name pasted on a old, power-hungry, self-centered group of elites who view the government as an avenue for self-aggrandizement and self-dealing.

And the national disgrace continues…