What is a New Republican?

I recall riding in the backseat of the car while my parents were talking politics. I was seven years old, and it was near the end of the Vietnam War. I asked, "Daddy, what's the difference between a Democrat and a Republican?" 

He said, "Democrats like things to change, and Republicans like things to stay the same."

"Then I'm a Republican," I said, knowing that I didn't like it when things changed.

For a child whose life isn't all sunshine and roses, change often means negative things: Daddy loses his job, Mom has to start working, child is suddenly a latch-key kid at a time when that isn't a thing. Change can be scary. I think a lot of people are scared now, but not everyone.

What I love about American politics in this moment is the elasticity of the political parties. I used to scoff at Democrats who kept saying that in the post-reconstruction days of the Civil War, the political parties "flipped." Republicans became the racists and Democrats, who had overseen slavery and segregation, became the "tolerant" ones. (I think "tolerant" is a pejorative term as regards race--should we merely "tolerate" someone's race?)

Many on the right thought this was ridiculous because of President Obama's choice of Vice President, Senator Joe Biden, an old-school Democrat who not only palled around with KKK members but fought against school desegregation. (Kamala Harris' only factually accurate campaign moment was when she called Biden a racist during a 2020 Democratic primary debate.) Also, because of stats like the 17 percent of Democrats who said they wouldn't vote for Obama over McCain simply because of his race, which could be a reason to pick known-racist Biden as VP.

Republicans have long rejected this notion of the parties "flipping," but have they flipped now? If aversion to change is the metric, they certainly have. Other metrics have changed as well:

What is a "New Republican?" 

• A Trump voter or someone who didn't vote for Trump but who likes the policies coming out of the second Trump Administration. They realize the presidency isn't about who you'd like to have a beer with, it's about who's a more effective leader.
• New Republicans are patriotic but don't associate it with war. They're largely anti-war, especially for regime change or to benefit the Military Industrial Complex. In the past, you'd hear "Military Industrial Complex" uttered by Republicans only when making fun of liberals, but New Republicans recognize and are suspicious of these entities. Any military action must meet "America First" standards.
• They're willing to admit mistakes. I no longer agree with some things I wrote post 9/11. Many apologize for supporting the Iraq War. Events like realizing there were no weapons of mass destruction revealed to even the most patriotic Republicans that our government isn't always good just because it's ours. Obama's weaponization of federal agencies, like using the IRS as a weapon to audit conservatives, surveilling conservative journalists, or Biden's assault on religious liberty, speech and parental rights cemented the sad reality that our government isn't always on our side.
• New Republicans are fiscally conservative and hate government waste. This was given a lot of lip service by Republicans, but their actions didn't match their words. My late husband stopped identifying as Republican due to huge spending increases during G.W. Bush's presidency. It's still a problem, but New Republicans are more likely to call out their representatives for overspending.
• After years of proven government censorship, New Republicans are the Free Speech Party, a title ceded by the right during the McCarthy era anti-Communist hearings and claimed by the likes of the nakedly left-wing ACLU. The left now openly argues in favor of censorship. 
• They're younger and more racially diverse than ever.
• New Republicans love change--fast and sweeping, please. Known for their conservative values, Republicans have long been associated with keeping the status quo or returning to the past. While many still advocate conservative values like family, patriotism, and parental rights, most New Republicans want change. 
• In addition to "flipping" with Democrats on classical liberal issues, New Republicans are becoming more Libertarian than ever. The Dobbs decision led some pro-life Republicans to believe abortion education is a more effective strategy than outlawing it. Many Libertarians seem happy with a lot of the Trump Administration's policies, though they may disagree with implementation, like "due process" for illegal alien deportations. 

We've just passed the 100-day mark of Trump's second presidency. Change is happening so fast that a lot of people are freaked out by its pace and volume--mostly people on the left. The right voted for change, the change Trump ran on, and are thrilled to watch it happening at breakneck speed in real time. 

I was watching a TV interview today about military technological innovations and the new U.S./Ukraine minerals deal. The interview was followed by a White House Press Briefing about abolishing the Department of Education and Trump's signing an Executive Order to protect religious liberty, among many things. This is just one morning on Trump Time.

The left calls it "chaotic" and "destabilizing." Can some things, like tariffs, be destabilizing? Yes. Is that always bad? No. The New Republican party's position is that the status quo is unacceptably dangerous and change--rapid, immense change--is necessary for America's survival.

The left likes its change stirred nice and slow. The toxic brew of leftist ownership of media, academia and culture simmered to a boil during the Obama and Biden Administrations. There was a Trump Administration in between, but COVID seemed to erase a lot of what Trump tried to do. The rest was undone by Biden's executive orders and leftist tracks laid deep underneath Washington by Obama and his ilk running a parallel government that stopped Trump's progress. 

New Republicans saw their country dying before their eyes and moved to stop it by re-electing Donald Trump--a disrupter, change agent, a doer. Even Democrats knew the country was starving for change as they laughably tried to run the current Vice President as the "change" candidate. 

Changes coming out of Washington during this new Trump Administration are too numerous to list, but we all feel the inertia. Leftists reacted by self- infantilizing. Septuagenarians/octogenarians lead sit-ins and rallies at which they're all required to drop F-bombs, somehow managing to sound like they're headed to The Oval for a gangbang, and (oh my God) sing-alongs. It could work. The singing is so bad they might get what they want if it'll make them stop--like waterboarding or blasting Metallica to prisoners around the clock at Guantanamo Bay.

They've also returned to Fearmongering's Greatest Hits aimed at the elderly and disabled, making their 2012 "Throw Granny off a Cliff" ad campaign look like Sesame Street. Only the most craven politician goes out of his way to make the most vulnerable Americans think they're about to lose their Social Security and housing, especially while knowing it's not true. It's effective because these groups have disproportionately low incomes, which often leaves them with access solely to leftist media sources that put them in information silos the left counts on. 

But most New Republicans are happy. For example, Republicans overwhelmingly approve of DOGE, with a CBS News/YouGov poll showing 81 percent of Republicans think DOGE should have "a lot" or "some" influence over spending and operations of government agencies. New Republicans are excited about the prospect of aggressively saving taxpayer dollars, something that would have put people to sleep five years ago. Trump's immigration policy is overwhelmingly popular with New Republicans as well.

Sure, not all New Republicans love everything Trump's doing. I don't trust anyone who loves everything any politician does. It's sycophantic. I didn't love everything my husband did, and he was my husband. We should examine the policies of politicians we agree with and speak out if we don't agree. With our newer, bigger tent sheltering many high-profile former Democrats, New Republicans can do this in ways Democrats can't. For example, I'm not a fan of Trump's "Gold Card" for bringing in rich immigrants or his selling any merch like shoes, etc. I know conservative Republicans who feel Kilmar Abrego Garcia needs to come back to the U.S. for more "due process." Yet, when an illegal alien has been adjudicated deported twice, how much process is still due?

It's good to respectfully disagree with our own side, especially if we can foster debate and make sense while doing it. New Republicans are having a very good time under the second Trump Administration. Democrats are still going with "recite the talking points, fall in line, or get primaried/cancelled." 

If my Dad were still alive, I'd love to ask, "What's a Republican now, Daddy?" He was a politically savvy guy. I think he'd say they're people who love the Tilt-a-Whirl change the New Republican party espouses because they love the country they're trying to save, staying in place without change was not an option, and they're willing to go along for the wild ride even if they sometimes feel the need to hold on for dear life.

Democrats are on the sidelines watching, afraid, nauseated and weak. Change is too scary for them. Now they're the ones who want things to stay the same.