Nominating a Sane Republican in 2028?

At some point the question for America is: how do we fix the Republican Party? It’s gotten worse. It wasn’t great before Donald John Trump, but it has gotten worse. It may get marginally better without his malign influence and gross incompetence (and gross corruption), but it remains to be seen how much the remnant will seek to emulate his cruel and desperately dumb ways.

So the idea comes: push for most people in the position to do so to intervene in the 2028 nomination contests with the goal of pushing for a sane Republican candidate.

What would be involved? Those who feel comfortable would take the steps necessary in their states to vote in the Republican primaries in 2026, picking whichever candidates they feel are most reasonable from what will undoubtedly be a crowded pack. While those voters could try to coordinate on a candidate, it probably wouldn’t help much, so the emphasis should be to use their own judgment. This isn’t an attempt to sink Republicans, but to influence their nominee to be someone less awful.

Would it help? Maybe. It depends on the field. It would depend on what mood the Republican primary voters are in next year. It would depend how many people, and where, decided to push for a sane nominee. If any of the field stand up and try to wear the ribbon of sanity, and if they are credible, it would help as well.

If it were successful, would it change the general election? Maybe, but probably not. Most Democratic voters aren’t going to vote in a Republican primary, so any success would come from a small margin helping. That means the Democratic nominee will still be decided by largely the same base as any other year, and from there the general election is what it is. A more moderate Republican might have a better chance at winning the contest, but we have to judge that outcome against the two others: the Democrat winning or the non-sane Republican winning. If those are the three options, sane-Republican is the lesser evil than one, greater than the other.

But what criteria to use? What the hell does a sane Republican even look like given all we have seen from the Donald John Trump years?!

For one, some proximity to reality. When we think of sanity and insanity, that seems an important point: the insane typically have lost some touch with facts at least, if not humanity generally. Now, the average politician, including and especially the average Republican politician, has some natural aversion to reality. They must suspend some of their faculties to believe they of all people ought to run the nation as its head executive officer. So we cannot be too hard on them for not being entirely looped in with the real. But there are shades of insanity. While we can admit Donald John Trump has opened a hotel at the bottom of the abyss of insanity, let us therefore seek candidates near the sunnier end.

As far as specific issues go, I will be preferring a candidate that offers some climate policy beyond drill-baby-drill. While I don’t expect any of the Republican field to offer a real conservative vision on the issue, perhaps one or two will attempt to distance themselves from the pack by at least staking out some kind of position that acknowledges the problem and points in the vague direction of a solution.

Abortion rights? I don’t think you’ll find a glimmer among the rough in that case. And there are some important powers at stake there, which is why this endeavor is squarely focused on the nomination elections and not on the general election.

But there is one other big issue that might be worth throwing support behind: the repudiation of Trumpism. It may be too soon for that, and if so, this one is surely the deal-breaker for the whole program. If not one Republican of the 2028 field is able to condemn a bankrupt set of anti-values like Donald John Trump’s stupidity has brought to power, it may not be worth the trouble. Wait for 2032, or later, and hope that someone from the party can put up a defense of the Constitution in their rhetoric and policies. For as it stands, the Republican agenda is squarely authoritarian.

Anyway, something to consider. Not sure if I’ll vote in the Republican primary next year, but I am at least thinking about it. My general rule is to never vote for someone in a primary that I wouldn’t vote for in the general election (given no new revelations about candidates). But the Republican party needs a major course correction, so perhaps an exception is warranted. Or, perhaps, the fact that if I did, that person wouldn’t become the nominee, is enough cover to avoid the question.