Thread by @JakeSherman

☀️ @PunchbowlNews this AM: What do Republicans stand for?

We are 600 days from the midterm elections -- it was a good hook, relax, we don’t have a countdown clock.

But try to answer this: What do Republicans stand for as a party?

@PunchbowlNews We ask because as the 117th Congress unfolds, and lawmakers continue to process what happened on Election Day and Jan. 6, we’re trying to get a sense of what the political landscape is like in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s presidency.

@PunchbowlNews Democrats, of course, will follow President Joe Biden’s lead -- a surprisingly progressive approach to governing that’s designed to be a blend between compassion and competence. We’ll see if he and they can pull it off.

@PunchbowlNews The GOP, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have any unifying theme or issue. Trump is gone from Washington for the moment, but very much in the mix of the national political scene. And despite his popularity with the base, the GOP Establishment is done with the former president

@PunchbowlNews So where does that leave the party?

→ The GOP used to be for fiscal discipline & balanced budgets, but they no longer are. Their 2017 tax cuts blew up the deficit, and they had no problem running up the red ink under Trump. They can't make a case for fiscal discipline anymore.

@PunchbowlNews → Defense policy: They were once strongly pro-NATO, and believed America should be a muscular and interventionist presence on the foreign stage. But those ties frayed, and those beliefs faded under Trump. Republicans used to warn against cozying up to dictators. See Trump again.

@PunchbowlNews → Trade policy: Trump blew up decades of Republican orthodoxy on the benefits of free trade. Now some Republicans are for tariffs, others are not.

@PunchbowlNews → Health policy: Where do we start here? GOP leaders have claimed they would put forward and pass an Obamacare replacement plan for the last 11 years. We’re still waiting.

@PunchbowlNews → Science: Rs were once strong supporters of premier federal institutions like the CDC and NIH. Now, a big chunk of their party sees top scientists as quacks, and polls show that something approaching 40% of self-identified Rs are hesitant about taking the Covid-19 vaccine.

→ Separation of powers: Republicans said Trump was justified in unilaterally diverting funds approved by Congress for different programs for the border wall. Now Biden has canceled border-wall construction, and Republicans are complaining that he is violating the law.

→ Picking winners & losers: There was a period of time not too long ago where Rs criticized
Ds for what they saw as overzealous intervention into private sector -- picking winners & losers, they said. This would be a tough argument to make now

→ There’s a massive gulf between state and local GOP officials and Washington, D.C., policy makers. Mayors and governors gladly took the recent stimulus funds included in the American Rescue Plan. D.C. Republicans voted against it.

→ Immigration: This may be the most dramatic change of all. Former GOP Presidents including Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush spoke frequently about how valuable immigrants were for refreshing and renewing American society.

Trump blew all that up. He got to the White House by demonizing Mexicans and Muslims, and he made sure the rest of the party toed that line. Now where is the GOP on major immigration issues?

Are they for welcoming foreign students who study in America as permanent citizens (a huge plus for the country)?

Are they for a pathway to citizenship for the Dreamers or undocumented immigrants? What about reforming asylum laws? Refugees? Work visas? There is a wider ideological gulf internally between Rs on this issue than between the 2 parties.

→ The GOP still revolves around one figure: Trump. There are many who want that to end, but they’re too afraid to say it because they fear the backlash from the base.

They don’t have to figure this all out now. For now, Republicans are in the minority. They’re an opposition party, and it's easy to be against Biden.

But at some point, they’re going to have to resolve these ideological and policy disputes if the GOP is to survive as an effective partner in the two-party system. And it won’t be easy.

Of course, the GOP is the favorite to win the House in 2022. And they may be able to capture the majority without having any ideological north star -- history would indicate that’s the case.

→ One final point: On Wednesday, 12 House Republicans voted against a resolution awarding gold medals to police for their heroism on Jan. 6. They didnt like the word “insurrectionists” used to describe the Trump supporters involved in the incident.

And one, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, complained about describing the Capitol as the “temple of democracy” as a “little too sacrilegious for me.” That pretty much sums it up.