The MAGA-Lite Future of the Republican Party – The New Republic

Youngkin was neither the most nor least Trumpist candidate in the Republican primary. The Virginia GOPs convoluted process for choosing a candidate was nearly overrun by hard-core Trump supporters, who hijacked the nominating convention. (Virginias Republican primary was settled via a convention, which some MAGA-aligned candidates felt was meant to rig the process against them.) One such candidate, Amanda Chase, referred to those who stormed the Capitol on January 6 as patriots. But Youngkin kept some distance from Trump, instead running as a Christian conservative while exploiting the kinds of red-meat culture-war stories that pass for policy in Republican circles these days. His day one agenda includes an array of tax cuts, as well as banning Covid lockdowns and critical race theory.

Youngkins strategy seemed straightforward: Avoid the most bombastic corners of Trump worldparticularly the claim that the 2020 election was stolenwhile playing footsie with it. Youngkin refused, for instance, to say during the gubernatorial primary whether Biden was a legitimate president and has promised an election security task force that would essentially purge voter rolls. At the same time, he ran a campaign attempting to meld older GOP orthodoxy (tax cuts) and its newer varieties (he once uploaded four separate videos criticizing critical race theory on the same day). The play is cynical and transparent: Do just enough to convince the MAGA faithful that he is one of them without losing too much suburban support.

But Trump and many of his supporters are all-or-nothing types. Trump himself has questioned Youngkins loyalty to the king. The only guys that win are the guys that embrace the MAGA movement, he said during a recent radio interview. When they try to go down a railroad track, you know, Hey, oh yeah, sure, love it, love it. Oh, yeah, love Trump. Love Trump. OK, lets go, next subject. When they do that, nobody, they dontthey never win. They never win. They have to embrace it. Youngkin has responded with more winking and nodding toward Trumps base, like his waffling last week about whether he would have voted to certify the 2020 election. His hope, clearly, is that various Republican and independent factions will hear what they want to hear and ignore the rest.

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The MAGA-Lite Future of the Republican Party - The New Republic