Republicans of USA have found a new formula to mobilize the electoral base of the former president Donald Trump without scaring off independent voters: Trumpism without Trump, a combination that could embarrass Democrats in the 2022 legislative and 2024 presidential elections.
Trump remains the most important leader of the Republican Party, but Tuesday’s elections in the United States showed that Trumpism can continue without its most charismatic ambassador.
The person who has shown that this idea is possible is Glenn Youngkin, a billionaire with no political experience who snatched the Governor of Virginia from the Democrats in Tuesday’s election, a date in which Joe Biden’s party reaped worse results than expected. .
Days later, the Republican Party celebrates the victory and, in the halls of Congress, the joy still infects both moderate Republicans and the most Trumpist legislators. “We are all brothers and sisters,” a Republican source told Efe.
The key was that Youngkin embodied an educated version of Trumpism, a figure with the same ideas but better ways, capable of maintaining the support of the bases and adding the independents, who were key to Biden’s victory and will be in any other. electoral appointment.
The “delta variant” of Trumpism
In the words of Michael Cornfield, Professor of Politics at George Washington University, Youngkin is the “delta variant” of Trumpism: more contagious and less lethal.
“Glenn Youngkin is the most interesting politician in America right now,” Cornfield said.
So much so that even some television commentators speculate about the possibility of him being the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential elections, something still a long way off, especially since Trump himself continues to flirt with the idea of opting for reelection himself.
Youngkin, who will take office in January, tried at all times to maintain some distance from Trump and did not appear with him in any electoral mittens, although he did intervene by telephone at a couple of events.
To unite Trumpistas and independent voters, Youngkin used education: He championed parental involvement in their children’s schools and vowed to banish from the classroom critical race theory, a doctrine that considers America’s slave-owning past to be origin of a systematic racism.
Faced with this, Democratic candidate and former governor (2014-2018) Terry McAuliffe brought the elections to the national level and tried to portray his opponent as an ally of Trump.
Decisive choices “at the kitchen table”
The winning strategy, however, was to talk about the issues that directly impact people’s lives, from education to taxes, including the price of fuel or food, Republican analyst Alfonso Aguilar explained to Efe.
“The Democratic Party seems to be in a bubble,” criticized Aguilar, who held various positions in the George W. Bush Administration (2001-2009).
That tactic of appealing to the issues of daily life was also used by the Republican candidate for Governor in New Jersey, Jack Ciattarelli, who filled the houses of his neighbors with advertisements and pamphlets against the state property taxes. , which are among the highest in the United States.
Ciattarelli did not beat incumbent governor and Democratic candidate Phil Murphy, but he was close: they were only two tenths apart, a much narrower margin than the 11-point difference that the polls predicted.
“These elections were decided at the kitchen table” because “people vote on issues of direct concern,” said Jaime Florez, Hispanic communications director for the Republican National Committee (RNC), the executive body of that political force.
Trumpismo ¿con o sin Trump?
The RNC received the results of Tuesday’s elections with “enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility”, but Florez resisted commenting on the formula of “Trumpism without Trump” and did not want to enter into a debate on whether or not the former president will appear at the presidential elections of 2024.
The objective of the party’s executive body is to “guarantee the primary process” for the elections, recalled Florez, who in any case highlighted Trump’s “charisma” and “magnetism.”
“Trump is the most important leader of the Republican Party. It continues to be the one that moves the most voters and opinion. Many people dislike him, but many also adore him, ”he insisted.
Having the name “Trump” on the ballot when going to vote is something that has served in recent years to mobilize Democrats: it allowed them to regain the Lower House in the 2018 legislative elections and, two years later, the White House and both houses of Congress won.
However, there are still three years to go until the presidential election, and other Republicans like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis already sound like potential contenders.
However, the first appointment will be that of the legislative elections of 2022, in which the Democrats fear losing the narrow majority they hold in both houses of Congress.
David Wasserman, one of America’s leading political analysts and rarely wrong, has predicted significant losses for Democrats at least in the House of Representatives if the political climate that led to recent results in Virginia and New Jersey.
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Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
