The Colorado Springs Gazette final

What ‘so much winning’ has wrought

Eric Sondermann is a Colorado-based independent political commentator. Reach him at Ews@ericsondermann.com; follow him at @ Ericsondermann. ERIC SONDERMANN Ews@ericsondermann.com

Way back in 2015, Donald Trump famously promised Republicans, and the country at large: “We will have so much winning if I get elected that you may get bored with the winning.”

Years later, if there is any boredom afoot in the land, it is of Trump. His act has grown stale and lost its entertainment value. His favorite play is reputed to be “Sunset Boulevard,” the tale of a faded star and her delusional dreams of a triumphant return to the limelight. Hmmm.

As to all that winning, Republicans, at least those whose favorite drink is something other than KoolAid, are left searching and wondering.

In Trump’s boorish, egomaniacal world, winning is the only prize worth having. Yet despite his White House residency for four long years, his political record is that of a consistently underperforming loser.

True, he was elected in 2016, thanks to the electoral college and threading the thinnest of needles in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Showing their own propensity for arrogance and miscalculation, Democrats had put forth a candidate of stunningly limited appeal.

Since then, it has been precipitously downhill. In 2018, Trump’s Republicans lost 41 seats in the U.S. House and control of the chamber. Disapproval of Trump put Nancy Pelosi back in the speaker’s chair.

Come 2020, Democrats held the reins of the House and Trump virtually ceded them Senate control through his all-thumbs handling of the Georgia runoffs. When Republicans forfeit two Senate seats in the Deep South, that is the very definition of losing.

Oh, and Trump also lost the presidency by 7 million votes and an Electoral College tally virtually identical to that by which he prevailed four years prior.

That is fact. Allegations to the contrary have been shot down as so much self-serving fantasy that shook the very roots of our democracy.

Which brings us to 2022 and the election two months ago. Despite President Biden’s lame approval numbers and what seemed a collection of issues set up for massive GOP gains, Republicans fell short of every expectation, mainly their own.

It turned out, surprise, that candidates matter and the likes of Trump-anointed Herschel Walker, Mehmet Oz, Kari Lake and assorted others were roundly rejected. Beyond that, perhaps reverence for our central democratic traditions remains stronger than some might have guessed. A Capitol riot and election denial are not attractive looks.

Even in the context of high crime and inflation, voters recognized larger, existential imperatives.

At home in Colorado, what Republicans had thought to be their comeback year turned to nothingness. No matter how blue, Colorado is not a 19-point Democratic state.

But that was Gov. Polis’ margin over Republican Heidi Ganahl who was elementally unable to figure out whether the 2020 election had been properly decided.

Even Lauren Boebert, the Colorado GOP’S poster child, saw defeat flash in front of her eyes before salvaging a 546-vote win in a district that should have been a noncompetitive afterthought. Republican caucuses in the Legislature are now featured on the side of milk cartons.

The sadly comedic spectacle to which we were treated 15 times on the House floor in the normally straight-forward act of selecting a speaker was a direct consequence of the GOP’S political deficit.

Had Republicans achieved anything close to their forecast numbers, Kevin Mccarthy would never have had to prostrate himself for the support of the camera-loving Matt Gaetz, or the white supremacist aficionado Paul Gosar. The imaginative George Santos could have been shown the door and freed to cure cancer and quarterback his team to a Super Bowl victory.

Instead, the speakership debacle served as a taste of things to come. The scene will repeat time and again as important, tough issues come to the House floor. The inmates are truly running the asylum.

Do not forget that the majority of those in Mccarthy’s camp from the get-go were deniers who voted against certifying Biden’s clear victory mere hours after the unprecedented, Trump-inspired attack on our Capitol. This crew sure likes to schedule its circus for Jan. 6.

Even Mccarthy found it necessary or convenient to bend the knee to Trump via a pilgrimage to Mar-a-lago to atone for some uncharacteristically candid words following the insurrection.

Worse than political defeat and institutional dysfunction is the loss of one’s soul. That is the real tragedy of the contemporary GOP.

Beyond outrage, animus and “owning the libs,” please tell me the guiding principles of the modern Republican Party. It is telling that they did not even deign to adopt a platform in 2020. Beyond the words that are music to the ears of any putative strongman: “Whatever Donald wants.”

Some of us recall a party that used to champion fiscal responsibility, an assertive American role in the world and, wait for it, the rule of law. What became of those folks?

To be clear, the Democratic side of the aisle hosts excesses and maladies. I, for one, am not reticent to call them out. But whatever those abundant flaws, they generally take place within the broad confines of political norms. They do not call into question the very ability to govern.

America desperately needs two responsible, viable, intellectually competitive parties. Democrats often fall short of that mark. But Republicans seem to have ever more abandoned the pursuit and left the arena.

In the past 30 years, Republicans have gained a majority of the vote in only one of eight presidential elections. No wise person would consider that a promising trajectory.

If 2022 did not constitute a political bottom for Republicans, just what does that nadir look like? Yet some dimmer bulbs among Colorado Gopers are calling for further retrenchment and extremist purity by way of eliminating primary elections to disenfranchise unaffiliated voters.

They forget, first and foremost, that politics is an exercise of addition, not subtraction.

Indeed, the GOP needs a makeover. But even the slickest consultants are limited in their branding magic. Sometimes, such campaigns fail because consumers, in this case voters, sample the product and reject it.

OPENERS

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2023-01-18T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-18T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.gazette.com/article/281595244647657

The Gazette, Colorado Springs