ICYMI: Stuart Stevens Reacts to JD Vance Pick in The Atlantic
July 18, 2024 —In a new piece in The Atlantic, Lincoln Project Senior Advisor Stuart Stevens profiles the dark turn of the Republican party in Ohio from mainstream conservatism to total embrace of Donald Trump. Stevens argues that the “old guard” of Ohio conservatives have surrendered to the forces of Trumpism, and Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance could cement America’s transition from democracy to autocracy.
Below are excerpts from the piece:
“What happened to the Ohio GOP? For generations, it was the epitome of a sane, high-functioning party with a boringly predictable pro-business sentiment that seemed to perfectly fit the state. Today, it has been remade in the image of native son J. D. Vance, the first vice-presidential candidate to sanction coup-plotting against the U.S. government.”
“But don’t make the mistake of thinking this transformation was the result of a hostile takeover; that implies there was a fight. The truth is that the old guard surrendered to forces contrary to what it had espoused as lifelong values.”
“When Kasich ran in the Republican presidential primary in 2016, he did win Ohio; it was the only state he won. Once most of the leading Ohio Republicans chose to accommodate Donald Trump, ordinary voters soon followed, delivering him the state in the 2016 general election and again in 2020 by large margins. No one thinks Trump needs Vance to repeat his victory in November; the former president didn’t choose Vance to appeal to some new or contested constituency. Vance is Trump’s instrument to fundamentally alter American society.”
“Could the trinity of Kasich-Portman-DeWine have saved the party if they’d persisted? We’ll never know. But the emergence of J. D. Vance, the first Ohioan to be on a national ticket since John Bricker ran with Thomas Dewey in 1944, has a Guns of August feel: that of powerful players sliding into a war no one desired or imagined. The once staunchly midwestern, mainstream Ohio GOP has now given us the first vice-presidential nominee who has pledged not to follow the Constitution if it stands in the way of political victory.”
“If 2024 becomes a turning point in America’s slide from democracy to autocracy, the Ohio Republican Party will serve as a case study of how well-intentioned people let the legacy of the American experiment slip through their fingers.”
The Lincoln Project is a leading pro-democracy organization in the United States — dedicated to the preservation, protection, and defense of democracy.
To learn more about The Lincoln Project, go to lincolnproject.us.
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