In 2026, Republicans Will Have To Decide What Comes After Trump |
Republican Party
Steven Greenhut | 1.2.2026 7:30 AM
The Republican Party that I joined in the 1980s (and later left) espoused a straightforward set of principles. It believed in free markets, limited government, peace through strength in dealing with international aggressors, and "traditional" values. Sure, the last one was nebulous and the party often was hypocritical, but these core ideas were the key to its eventual resurgence.
One of its leading lights, former NFL quarterback Jack Kemp, was described by The New York Times as someone who "brought more zeal to America's poverty problems than any national politician since Robert Kennedy…the only official to have won standing ovations in black ghettos by calling for a capital gains tax cut." Kemp, like Ronald Reagan, exuded authenticity. Despite their flaws, these serious big-hearted men truly believed in classic American ideals.
In his farewell address, President Reagan, often called the Great Communicator, was characteristically humble: "I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things, and they didn't spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation." Conservatives in the media were mostly about exploring weighty ideas, as any perusal of William F. Buckley Jr.'s "Firing Line"