The GOP’s “Clown Show” outside of Trump

Despite President Trump’s dominant lead in the GOP Presidential primary polls, over a half-dozen Republicans presidential candidates will face off against President Trump in next year’s GOP Presidential primary season.

Over the past few months, Fox News has hosted two debates for the GOP’s Presidential candidates. As the clear front-runner, President Trump decided to not attend the first two debates and won’t likely attend the last one. However, the debates serve an important purpose. The first two debates shed light on what the Republican party would still look like without President Trump. The picture isn’t pretty.

Over the past eight years, President Trump’s imprint on the Republican party has been undeniable. His promotion of America First, nationalist/populist positions on trade, immigration, and foreign policy has caused a massive political realignment in the GOP. No longer are Conservative voters forced to support GOP Establishment, Neo-conservative war-hawks for President. Instead, President Trump gave an actual voice to the forgotten Conservative voters of the GOP in 2016.

I personally watched most of the first two GOP debates, and I made a starting realization from these debates. Nearly all of the GOP presidential candidates at the first two Presidential debates do not echo President Trump’s nationalist, “America First” rhetoric. Instead, most of the candidates (from Ron DeSantis to Mike Pence) sound more like outdated Neo-con politicians from the Bush era. At this point, businessman and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has positioned himself as the only real MAGA candidate for President outside of President Trump. But even Vivek is not completely “America First” on immigration–especially when considering his support for increased legal immigration.

The non-Trump GOP Presidential candidates have boasted some fairly awful policy positions for both domestic and foreign matters.

Just listen to Mike Pence and Nikki Haley’s screeds about supporting the Ukraine and other foreign governments. Pence has vocally supported sending more of our tax dollars over to a corrupt Regime in Ukraine, and Haley’s presidential campaign has reportedly received campaign contributions from registered foreign agents. What’s worse, Haley publicly called for US military action against North Korea, Syria, and Iran. These two Establishment hacks exemplify what an “America Last” Republican looks like when it comes to foreign policy.

In contrast, President Trump in 2016 campaigned heavily to end the “Forever Wars” in the Middle East. He stood diametrically opposed to his then-opponent in 2016 Jeb Bush when it came to the foreign policy of Jeb’s brother President George W. Bush. Unfortunately, Pence and Haley are trying to revert the Republican Party back to the foreign policy of the Bush-Cheney era, and no true patriot desires that.

Looking to domestic policy, US Senator and presidential candidate Tim Scott voiced support for the BLM movement back in 2020, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed an anti-Free speech bill for while visiting a foreign country. Both of those actions should raise red-flags in the minds of American patriots.

With less than two months before the Iowa Caucus, “America First” patriots need to understand that the Republican party is still full of Bush-era holdovers and status-quo politicians. We cannot afford to undo the progress made by President Trump by electing “status quo” Republicans like Pence, Haley, Christie, and many more.

Outside of President Trump (and Vivek to a much lesser degree), the Republican party’s presidential candidate field does not represent our interests. The only viable “America First” presidential candidate in 2024 is President Trump, and we should be grateful that he is still carrying the torch of the “America First” movement for the past 8 years.