The 2024 Iowa Republican caucuses are now history. Donald Trump won a decisive victory Conquered 98 out of 99 counties and win 51 percent of voting. Trump's opponents, Nikki Haley and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Florida), are finding it difficult to stay active.
Haley left on a plane. new hampshire So she's hoping to gain enough support from independents to win or finish close. DeSantis retreated to Haley's home state. south carolina He hopes to appeal to evangelicals in the state.
However, the reality is that Donald Trump has a solid base of support and is almost certain to become the Republican presidential nominee in 2024.as donald trump jr. boasted January 6, 2021 “This is Donald Trump’s Republican Party!”
However, some warning signs point to problems ahead.
Voter turnout plummeted in Iowa 76,576 votes Of the 718,901 registered Republicans in the state, Only 110,298 I went to the trouble of voting, and Donald Trump only got half of them. moreover, One-third of caucus attendees said: If Trump is convicted, he would be “unfit” to serve as president.and Half of Nikki Haley's voters He said he would vote for Joe Biden if Trump became the nominee.
Another loss for the Republican Party in the presidential election would mark a series of poor performances that began in 1992. From 1992 to 2020, Republicans only won the popular vote in a presidential election once. 2004. Instead of winning a majority, Republicans have relied on a biased electoral system that favors rural states.
In the Senate, Republicans are supported by the Constitution, which gives each state two senators (including the less populous states with Republican majorities). Aggressive gerrymandering skewed many congressional districts, resulting in Republican victories.
The last time Republicans performed this badly was in the 1930s and 1940s. This party started in 1932, lost five consecutive presidential elections. Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom the Democratic Party nicknamed “.The Champ' won four races, and Harry Truman added an astonishing fifth in 1948.
By 1952, Republicans were desperate to win. At the time, the party faced difficult choices. If we follow the heart of the party, we will nominate “.Republican Party” Also known as Robert A. Taft, who despised the New Deal and said, “socialist governance” Or why not choose Dwight D. Eisenhower, a World War II hero with immense bipartisan appeal.
rear fierce battle, the party decides they like Ike. So did voters.Eisenhower's 1952 landslide Republicans regain control of the White House and Congress.
But Eisenhower did more than just win. He accepted the broad outlines of the New Deal, and hemodern republicanism”
Under the Eisenhower administration, federal highway system department was established. Established Health Education and Welfare, minimum wage has been raisedfirst civil rights bill After the post-Civil War era, National Defense Education Act Began an infusion of federal funding to train more math and science teachers.
Ike also had a lopsided victory in 1956. smile: “I think modern republicanism has been proven. And America has approved modern republicanism.”
But Eisenhower did something even more important. The goal was to distance the Republican Party from people who believed in conspiracy theories. Those voices grew louder during the two decades that Roosevelt and Truman occupied the Oval Office.
1940 Republican presidential candidate Wendell Willkie Paid Roosevelt allegedly conspired with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini to “sell Czechoslovakia down the river.” Four years later, Thomas E. Dewey claimed that Roosevelt knew about Pearl Harbor in advance.He should be impeached instead of being re-elected. ”
By 1950, Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-Wis.) was making at least the following charges: 205 Communist They worked within the State Department. Eisenhower despised McCarthy swore“He is the last man in the world. [to the White House] If you have something to say. ” Eisenhower later said that while he was watching, McCarthyism was “McCarthyism”
Dwight D. Eisenhower took the Republican Party in a different direction, which brought political benefits. Republicans won from 1952 to 1988. 7 out of 10 people A presidential election was held. Gone was the idea that the Republicans would follow the same path as the Whigs.
But Donald Trump inflicted defeat after defeat on the Republican Party.republican party lost in 2018Trump lost the presidency in 2020 And it is expected to be a red wave in 2022. never happened. In 2023, abortion rights became a motivating issue for Democrats following a Supreme Court ruling. dobbs incidentAnd in 2024, it will be Joe Biden who will seize the mantle of Republican freedom and make it his own.sacred cause”
President Donald Trump's promise ismake america great again” relies on an idealized vision of the past. But while it's tempting to look back, Americans are always looking ahead.
Eisenhower did just that, setting the Republican Party on a new path. The Republican Party needs one more to do the same and surpass Donald Trump.
Unfortunately, Eisenhower is nowhere to be seen.
John Kenneth White is a professor of political science at The Catholic University of America. His upcoming book is titled “Grand Old Unraveling: The Republican Party, Donald Trump, and the Rise of Authoritarianism.” He can be reached at his johnkennethwhite.com.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
