Taking Back the Republican Party?

I disagree with just about every word spoken by both Democratic Socialists and MAGA followers, but I envy the fact that both have created active political movements dedicated to electing candidates and fighting for control of the Democratic and Republican parties. Likewise, moderate establishment Democrats are part of an organized movement. You know who doesn’t have a movement? My tribe; legacy Reaganite Republicans who before Trump ran the Republican party. But that is changing.

Political movements consist of activists motivated by a common ideology, candidates, and infrastructure, such as political action committees. We have the ideas. We are building the infrastructure. And now we may have a candidate. The ground is going to shift once this midterm election is over.

From the 1950s until 1980, the Conservative Movement fought for control of the Republican party. From the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 until the election of Donald Trump in 2016, it ran the GOP. I was part of that movement as a candidate, elected official, and State Party Chairman.

But in 2016 it all came crashing down. Reagan’s Shining City was overrun by populists just as Rome was sacked by Visigoths. Overnight long-standing conservative positions on trade, free enterprise, immigration reform, NATO, and even the Constitution and the rule of law, were spun 180 degrees in reverse. MAGA took control of the party infrastructure. And the amazing thing is, very few members of our tribe put up a fight.

The Never Trump movement, of which I am a proud member, was always small. The vast majority of legacy Republicans, including many of my oldest friends and colleagues, either gave up and left politics, or bent the knee to Trump and became Vichy Republicans. For the past ten years there has been no organized conservative movement opposed to the MAGA takeover of the GOP. Until now.

In 2024, Senators John Danforth, Alan Simpson, and William Cohen, along with 34 other Republican luminaries, founded Our Republican Legacy (ORL) an organization dedicated to restoring the GOP to its traditional core principles. ORL now consists of five national chairs, multiple senior advisors, 30 state chairs, and roughly 15,000 members of our National Committee. In consultation with other traditional conservatives, we are beginning to prepare for the post-Trump battle for control of the party in 2028.

Movements are dependent on candidates willing to step up and run, and now the first potential conservative candidate for President may have emerged.

On a recent episode of our podcast, (can’t have a movement without a podcast these days) Congressman Don Bacon confirmed he is considering running for President. Bacon, a retired Air Force Brigadier General, is a great conservative leader. He stands with us on tariffs, Ukraine, NATO, and the need to get our debt under control. He describes himself as a Reaganite, and a legacy Republican.

Don Bacon may or may not decide to run for President. And he may or may not be the only legacy Republican in the race. But his potential candidacy, and the growth of ORL, are signs that the Conservative Movement is reawakening. And that is good news for America.

America needs a healthy two-party system, and that must include a Republican party once again dedicated to free enterprise, fiscal responsibility, national unity, fealty to the Constitution and the rule of law, and peace through strength. It is this movement, this ideology, which drove the Republican party at its best, from Lincoln, to Roosevelt, to Eisenhower, and to Reagan. Conservatives need to be determined to go to work in 2028 and keep on working as long as it takes to restore the GOP to its true values.

Movements don’t just happen. People have to fight for them. For too long my fellow legacy Republicans have either given up, or worked to hold the party together, resigned to the fact that Donald Trump was the new boss. The time for unity is over. Political parties are shaped by struggle and competition. As soon the dust settles on the midterm election conservatives need to begin fighting to turn the GOP in a new (old) direction.

 So as the sun sets on the Trump era, and we begin the battle of 2028 and beyond, we legacy Republicans need to remember the battle cry of 1980:  The Time is Now.