Dear Republican Leaders,
We’ve had some good moments over the years. 1994? Yeah, that was wild. The 1998 election, when my state senate candidate won big in Maryland? We partied all night. The Bush-Gore recount? Exciting times.
Somewhere along the way, though, things started going sideways between us. Unlike so many of you, I simply could not abide the choice of Donald Trump in 2016. Trump’s nomination signaled that (after all the lecturing about Bill and Monica) our party no longer believed that character mattered (see Stormy, for starters). It implied that we no longer believed conservative values were for helping all Americans flourish but, instead, saw conservatism as a zero-sum game of identity politics. It implied we had replaced a spiritual savior with an earthly savior who didn’t ascribe to Christian values. And those are just a few of the obvious betrayals of Reagan conservatism that Trump represented.
Yes, the voters chose him twice. But you, the Republican leaders and politicians, went to extraordinary lengths to rationalize these decisions, normalize his awful ideas and enable his worst instincts. You told yourself you could control Trump. You told yourself that it was a dangerous world, and that we needed an S.O.B. to scare the bad guys. You told yourself the polls were fake and the election losses were rigged. You told yourself he’d rein in spending (the debt is now over $40 trillion) and stop abortion (the rate of abortion has increased since Roe v. Wade was overturned). Besides, except for COVID-19, the economy was so good, right? Meanwhile, at least Trump didn’t start any new wars. And hey, how can you argue with success? All Trump does is win!
Until now, that is. On Tuesday, those false rationalizations came crashing down around you. The scope of the GOP’s midterm losses — too big to rig, dismiss or deny — cannot be swept under the rug. The American people, including many who once supported Trump, are screaming at you to change course. Are you ready to listen?
An old adage says, “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” This is a time for choosing. You can either begin to return to sanity, or you can continue digging the GOP’s political grave.
What might a return to sanity look like? The voters, I believe, were primarily responding to the high prices that Trump promised to bring down “on day one” — inflation that he instead exacerbated with his tariffs and the Iran war. As such, the first step for Republicans hoping to redeem themselves is to work in bipartisan fashion to reverse course on these huge mistakes.
But while the economy was the primary driver of this midterm tsunami, there’s a lot more to discuss. In recent months, the affordability crisis caused Americans to notice that Trump was A) distracted by stupid things like a reflecting pool and a ballroom, and B) engaged in a ton of self-dealing and corruption (it is estimated that he has profited over $2 billion since re-taking office in 2025). These sins, which might be tolerated during good times, became unacceptable flashpoints as Americans struggled to buy groceries and put gas in their cars.
Parties (like people) usually don’t change until they have to. I’m begging you to take this midterm drubbing as a signal, not just to stop enabling Trump’s destructive policies, but also to stop indulging his chaotic instincts — trying to jail his political opponents, bulldozing the East Wing, endorsing Ken Paxton (!) for the Senate — and to work with Democrats to hold the truly corrupt members of his administration accountable.
Now, I realize that attempting to do this is both fraught and scary. Trump has been able to withstand scandals that would have destroyed any other politician: “Access Hollywood,” the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, indictments, arrests and more. What happens if he somehow recovers enough power or popularity to yet again punish dissenters?
My warning to you is that sticking with Trump and Trumpism now is the much riskier option. Trump is constitutionally barred from a third term, and he’s clearly lost a step, which is to say he doesn’t seem to have the same capacity to exact revenge. He doesn’t care about you, and his disastrous recent political judgments pose greater threats to your careers than the possibility of being primaried for a lack of loyalty.
You should also break with Trumpism because it’s the right thing to do. Lying to the American public — about not starting a new war and about bringing down prices — is dishonorable. So is supporting and funding an army of immigration officers who kill in the streets. And so is lining one’s own pockets while serving as your president.
Make no mistake: Trump’s actions, lies and deplorable behavior have political consequences. For the first time in my life, I voted a straight Democratic ticket this year. Apparently, there were plenty of other conservative Republicans who made the same decision.
So I’m asking you to take our message seriously. Don’t make me keep voting for Democrats. I don’t want to do that to you. But I will, if you keep making me.
And don’t think things are magically going to get better as Trump recedes from the main stage. One of the many lessons of the midterms is that when you construct your political party’s entire identity around a cult of personality rather than a coherent set of principles and ideas, you end up standing for nothing. As the Washington Monthly’s Bill Scher put it, “If you’re a Republican, you really have to ask yourself: Was the last 10 years of being led by Trump worth it? What did you get out of it? Is there a policy legacy like the ACA that you’re really proud of? Did Dobbs do enough to be worth the tradeoffs?”
You have not been willing or able to absorb this message before, but after last night, maybe it will finally sink in. I’m hoping you’ll take all of this into serious consideration when you decide whether to obstruct or cooperate with the new Democratic congressional majority, whether to continue circling the wagons around Trump or cut him loose, and whether, in 2028, to nominate a MAGA sycophant like JD Vance or a candidate who can begin the very long and arduous process of trying to earn back my — our — respect. We’ll be watching closely.
Matt K. Lewis is a Washington Sun Perspectives columnist.
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Dana Milbank: A Nation Redeemed
Andy Beshear’s Radical Proposition for America: We Could Have a Nice President.
Rahm Emanuel Embodies His Party’s Past. Could He Also Be Its Future?