OPINION:
Henry Barbour’s “A path forward for the GOP in 2022 and 2024” (Web, Feb. 19) is a study in cynical revisionism. Mr. Barbour actually concludes by writing, “By focusing on policy and getting things done, Republicans can regain the confidence our traditional conservative base and those who left us in the last four years.” It’s as if he had slept through the entire Trump presidency.
Mr. Barbour seems completely oblivious to the former president’s robust empowerment of the private sector, his unflagging commitment to this nation’s founding freedoms, values and conservative principles, his Reagan-like broadening of the Republican base (this time capturing a record Black and Hispanic vote) and his electrifying campaign rallies, during which he spoke inspiringly of “One America, One People, One Vision.”
It is obvious Mr. Barbour shares the Republican establishment’s blissful ignorance that the left has been eating its lunch ever since George H.W. Bush, the granddaddy of all Republican establishmentarians, acquiesced during the early ’90s to the demands of the Democratic Party. He raised taxes and squandered the Reagan Revolution. For 25 years hence, the Republican Party mumbled, stumbled and subordinated its conservative values and principles until the American people finally elected a true warrior-leader, Donald Trump. Mr. Trump was just the disruptor the nation needed. He possessed the vision, backbone and indefatigable passion required to confront the Washington swamp, the left and their proxies in the media. Doing so enabled him to successfully implement policies that strengthened the nation.
But now Mr. Barbour wants us to forget Donald Trump, his successes, the genius of MAGA and return to the establishment? No. Mr. Barbour’s path is the path backward. The path forward is building on MAGA and Donald Trump’s historic successes.
KEN BECKERT
Abingdon, Md.
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