CNN – Opinion
Opinion: I’m a conservative who’s waiting for Republicans to come to their senses
Yaffa Fredrick – July 19, 2023
Editor’s Note: Adam Kinzinger is a CNN senior political commentator and a former Republican congressman from Illinois. He served 10 years on the House foreign affairs committee. Kinzinger is also a lieutenant colonel and pilot in the Air National Guard. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.
Traditionally committed to national security, global stability and law and order, my Republican Party — yes, I am still a Republican — is now weakening on all three fronts. In doing so, it is fulfilling the cliche that extremists on the right and left eventually come together, like a snake eating its tail.
That’s not only bad for America, but bad for the prospects of the GOP — particularly in light of the fact that the party’s leading 2024 presidential contender is currently under both federal and state indictment and facing further potential charges in Washington, DC, and Georgia (all of which he denies wrongdoing in).
The radical right has embraced positions on these bedrock Republican principles to try to lock in the support of the most fervent members of the base. But these stances will almost certainly doom them with the moderates and swing voters who turned out for President Joe Biden in 2020. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a better way to ensure that the GOP won’t win back the presidency.
Let’s start with the GOP’s decision to insert culture wars into a bill — the National Defense Authorization Act — that funds every function of the Defense Department, in a manner that all but guaranteed alienating a voting majority in America.
Among other maneuvers, the extreme conservatives in the House want to ban a Defense Department policy that covers travel costs for service members who must seek abortions out of state, extending an existing provision that provides funds to those who must get specialized care not available near their posts. The Pentagon put this extension in place when some states limited or banned abortion access after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to an abortion last year.
How do I know this amendment is politically toxic? First, over the last several years, there has been steady public support for abortion rights, which now includes more than one-third of all Republicans, according to Pew Research Center. Second, there’s the unseemly effort to stop funding for the military with an amendment that has nothing to do with defense. Granted, others try to attach similar off-topic amendments to bills. But they are not usually as likely to torpedo getting necessary funds to the Pentagon.
Thanks to overwhelming GOP support, the anti-abortion travel reimbursement amendment made it into the House bill. Republicans also added limits on transgender care and prohibitions on programs related to diversity. All three fit the extreme right movement’s so-called “anti-woke” agenda, which seeks to block the government from supporting various groups of Americans on the basis of race, sexual orientation and gender identity.
GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made anti-wokeness, opposition to abortion and criticism of rights for transgender people central to his appeal to primary voters, but there’s little evidence that his stand will win over people in a general election. And House members who cling to his message in an effort to win primary voters may very well suffer defeat in a general election.
Unfortunately, further extremist (and self-defeating) mischief is taking place in the Senate, where Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama has put a hold on military nominations. Under the Senate’s arcane rules, Tuberville has been blocking consideration of some 265 military officers for several months. His reason? The Defense Department’s travel support for service members seeking out-of-state abortion services.
Tuberville’s grandstanding won’t persuade the Senate to change the Pentagon policy, but as an Air National Guard lieutenant colonel, I can tell you that blocking promotions is bad for the smooth operation of the chain of command at the heart of America’s national security structure. It’s also bad for morale. And it’s personally insulting to the men and women who are willing to sacrifice so much for this country.
But these culture war issues aren’t the only threat this crowd of extremists is posing to global stability. Last week, they tried unsuccessfully to tie up the defense bill by trying to scale back US aid to Ukraine by hundreds of millions of dollars.
As much of the world understands, Ukraine is in a fight for its life against a Russian military that invaded in February 2022. The Russian attack was unprovoked and pitted the much larger country, run by the autocratic leader Vladimir Putin, against a democracy that has thus far been able to defend itself, thanks in large part to US aid.
The defense of democracy has long been a conservative ideal, and that includes standing with our allies under attack. It’s hard to see the opposition to aid as anything other than the betrayal of an ally and friend.
Although the House ultimately voted down the amendment to limit aid to Ukraine, the fact that it was even introduced shows just how out of step much of the Republican Party is with the public on the issue of Ukraine. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll from last month, 65% of Americans support the US arming Ukraine — including 81% of Democrats, 56% of Republicans and 57% of independents. In that same poll, large majorities of Americans said they would support a US presidential candidate who would continue to provide strong military aid to Ukraine.
And then there’s the hostility these GOP extremists are directing at law enforcement, traditionally a wellspring of Republican support. This newfound animosity was on full view last week when FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared before the House Judiciary Committee.
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio and several equally exercised Republicans members attacked a “weaponized” bureau for serving as an anti-conservative attack dog. Jordan and others have been using this word — “weaponization” — to argue, without solid evidence, that the federal government in general is pursuing an anti-conservative agenda. Echoing leftists who call for defunding the police, the House’s right-wing extremists want to slash the FBI’s budget.
The attacks on Wray revolved around hot-button campaign issues, including the investigations into former President Donald Trump’s handling of top-secret documents, the plea agreement in the case of Hunter Biden’s tax crimes and the FBI’s surveillance efforts. At one point, finger-pointing Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said the FBI “deserves better than you” to Wray.
Following Trump’s example, Wray’s congressional interrogators treated him with the disrespect you might expect from members of the radical left in the 1960s. I’m certain that as they mimicked the former president, they were attempting to court his voters; but I saw House members leading their party into a political wilderness where moderate voices may just join Democrats to end the GOP’s control of the House.
It is a display of sheer political malpractice for any Republican to suggest cutting FBI funding. While the left-wing’s call to “defund” the police has been much derided, a Gallup poll from last October found rising public support for the FBI. The agency is now seen favorably by 79% of Democrats — and 50% of Americans overall.
As appalling and politically misguided as the far-right’s behavior has been, most Republicans in both the House and Senate have not been inclined to oppose it directly. They obviously fear losing the support of Trump and his followers. But I think this choice is short-sighted and may ultimately backfire.
Despite his lead in the polls, Trump does not have a lock on the 2024 presidential nomination. He did not win the presidency the last time he ran, and it’s clear that he has been a drag on GOP senators and representatives who have campaigned in the years since.
On this evidence, I’d say that the extremists are hurting, not helping, the national Republican Party. At some point, more and more normal Republicans will see the damage they are doing. In the meantime, conservatives like me will wait for our party to come to its senses.