A Republican’s Perspective on the 2024 Election: For the Republican Party to Win, Trump Needs to Lose

This piece is part of a series of articles produced in a special topics class taught by Professor of Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought Lawrence Douglas on the upcoming election. Articles may have been reviewed by Douglas as well as other members of the class prior to submission to The Student.

Although the North Carolina presidential race is razor-thin, polling indicates that the Republican nominee for governor, Mark Robinson, trails by 10 points. Robinson has drawn widespread criticism for his Nazi rhetoric, describing himself as a “Black Nazi,” and expressing a preference for Nazi Germany under Hitler’s leadership over America under former President Barack Obama’s. He has also described Hitler’s manifesto “Mein Kampf” as a “good read,” stating, “It's very informative and not at all what I thought it would be. It's a real eye opener.” This explains him referring to the Holocaust as “a bunch of hogwash,” and claiming that Jewish bankers are ushering in an apocalypse. Robinson's inflammatory rhetoric extends to the LGBTQ+ community, describing it as “perverted,” “unnatural,” “sinful,” and “demonic.” He refers to LGBTQ+ individuals as “filth,” “maggots,” and “flies.” On abortion, Robinson claimed that once a woman is pregnant, her body “isn’t hers anymore,” and implied that victims of rape and incest deserved what happened to them and should be forced to carry the baby to term due to Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory of evolution. However, he admitted in 2022 to paying for his now-wife to get an abortion. On the topic of slavery, Robinson stated, “Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring slavery back. I would certainly buy a few.” He even urged conservatives to kill liberals at a rally within a church, labeling his opposition as “wicked people” with “evil intent” stating, “some folks need killing ... It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity!” If you are wondering how Robinson possibly won his primary race, it is because former President Donald Trump endorsed him wholeheartedly, stating that he was “Martin Luther King Jr. on steroids.”

Since 2016, the Republican Party has been plagued with Trump as the spokesperson. Trump’s endorsement has become the golden ticket in Republican politics, costing the party numerous easily winnable elections, as he often prioritizes loyalty over the quality of candidates. Whether it was losing 41 House seats in 2018, losing three Senate seats and still remaining the minority in the House in 2020, or the failed “red wave” in 2022, Trump’s tenure as chief of the Republican Party has been a disaster for the down ballot. Nevertheless, Republicans are faced with a confusing, yet explainable complexity: Why is it that nearly every single non-elected Republican and mainstream Republican legislator pre-Trump rebukes him, but current legislators support him? The explanation is simple: Pre-Trump Republican politicians understand that Trump’s negatives far outweigh his positives, but current legislators are beholden to Trump for his endorsement, which is the only way to survive within the current Republican Party.

In 2016, an unprecedented number of Republicans refused to endorse Trump, including four of the five living Republican presidential nominees, six 2016 primary candidates, 24 governors, 21 senators, and 67 U.S. representatives, arguing that he was grossly unfit for office and leading the Republican Party down a dangerous path. The list only grew in 2020. Now, in 2024, only one of the 10 Republican presidential or vice presidential nominees alive during the Trump era has maintained their endorsement of him: Sarah Palin. George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney have never voted for Trump, and over 250 former staffers who worked for every Republican Presidential nominee from Reagan to Romney have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. While Trump claims that past Republicans are part of a paranoid “deep state” conspiracy, this argument falls apart when 91% of his hand-selected cabinet refused to endorse Trump’s primary race, 43% of them still refuse to endorse him over Harris, and even Trump’s own former vice president, Mike Pence, opposes his candidacy. The consensus is clear, the Republican Party, past and present, overwhelmingly rebukes Trump, which brings up my question for Republican voters: If you are a lifelong Republican, why are all the politicians you have supported in the past opposing Trump? I’d argue that it is because Trump is not a Republican.

To Trump’s credit, he appointed three Supreme Court justices, over 230 federal judges, and is responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade. His administration also delivered promised tax cuts, reduced government overreach, and made significant inroads with minority voters — traditionally a challenging demographic for the GOP. However, Trump has been a complete disaster on many core Republican beliefs. Fiscal responsibility? Trump ballooned our national debt by a third, adding 7.8 trillion dollars, and is projected to add another 7.5 trillion with his advertised economic plan if re-elected. Family values? Trump is a serial sexual predator. Free trade? Trump’s 2024 economic policy revolves around imposing ridiculously high tariffs on foreign nations — a surefire train wreck for the American economy. Law and order? Trump is a convicted felon who promises to pardon Jan. 6 insurrectionists on the first day of his presidency, describing them as “unbelievable patriots.” Upholding the Constitution? Trump argues that baseless claims of election fraud in 2020 justify terminating parts of the Constitution. Respect for our democracy? Trump attempted to illegally overturn the 2020 election results to remain in power. Moral leadership within Washington? Please. Supporting our allies? Trump is a staunch isolationist. Decentralization of power? Trump’s legal team argued in court that the new Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling would permit a president to use SEAL Team Six to kill a political opponent. Trump has radicalized the GOP and created his own brand of conservatism that many Republican legislators have adopted, but not at first.

During the 2016 Republican presidential debates, Trump’s two tightest contenders for the nomination were Ted Cruz, who described Trump a “pathological liar” who “lies with practically every word that comes out of his mouth,” and Marco Rubio, who called him a “con artist” and “the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency.” Notably, the very traits Cruz and Rubio attacked — Trump’s dishonesty and lack of integrity — are precisely what he’s been accused of throughout his political career. Yet, most Republican politicians have either swallowed their criticism, jumped aboard the MAGA train, or silenced themselves. Those within the GOP who did speak out against Trump, such as Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, face political exile, often losing their seats as a result.

If you are a staunch Republican, you should understand two things when voting this November. First, if Trump becomes a two-term president, he will solidify his control over the party, hand-picking candidates loyal to him rather than those who are truly competitive — leading to more preventable losses, as we saw with Herschel Walker in Georgia and Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania. Second, another Trump victory would reinforce the idea that Trump is an electable candidate, pushing more Republican legislators to adopt his style. By continuing to tolerate poor candidates, we've turned the party into a breeding ground for them. The only way to reverse this is by making Trump a two-time loser and rejecting MAGA extremism at the ballot box, sending a clear message that the party is done with attention-seeking opportunists.

I am a registered Republican, but I don’t feel obligated to vote for MAGA candidates purely because of their party affiliation. While many ask how I can stomach voting cross-party this election, I believe neither 2024 presidential candidate represents the Republican Party. Therefore, I am voting for the only sensible adult in the race. I dream of the Republican Party returning to McCain and Romney’s poised leadership. I miss the civility I saw in debates on YouTube between McCain and Obama as a kid where, despite their differences, there was immense mutual respect. I’m tired of toxic politics, so I am choosing to rebuff the man I feel is most responsible.

It’s tough to see the long-term benefits of a short-term decision, yet it’s what is necessary right now. At some point we must take a stand and say, “No, I refuse to vote for a serial sexual predator and convicted felon who incited a violent mob at the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn a democratic election to remain in power.” In 2016, we took a gamble on Trump. He was the non-politician who we hoped could uproot the corruption in Washington and cause real change. But our experiment turned out to be a failure. We need to stop making excuses for Trump, reject him at the ballot box this fall, and return the Republican Party to sanity.