By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer
For decades, American conservatives ran on a platform of traditional family values, but are now running on the idea of being “anti-woke” instead of emphasizing their own views.
Seeing videos of President Trump’s inauguration back in January, I could not help but think about the public figures in attendance: Elon Musk, Jake and Logan Paul and others who have led questionable personal lives. I, then, thought about how much support has changed for American conservatives and the Republican Party over the last decade.
Since the conservative Christian movement of the 1980s with Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party emphasized its support for traditional values, such as being pro-life and supporting Christianity in the public sphere. That trend had continued for decades, with conservatives supporting relatively mild-mannered, Christian candidates who believed in low taxes and supporting the Second Amendment.
But once Trump announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president, the narrative shifted.
Republicans, tired of recent Democrat success, turned to a polarizing and outspoken candidate. Trump did not fit the mold of past Republican candidates, yet he flew through the primaries and into the presidency though he was on his third wife and had multiple controversies surrounding his billionaire lifestyle.
During his first term, the attack on “wokeness” and the left became the focus. Conservatives in office and throughout the country focused on how they could spite the left, rather than building on the Republican platform. Conservative political commentators wanted to “wreck” liberals as their main form of content. This view of strict opposition is a result of the increasing political divide in the U.S., where opposing political views have influenced the personal lives of Americans.
Now, with opposition to the 2020 election and Joe Biden’s sole term in office, President Trump and the Republican Party have led with the same “anti-woke” message. That message has also reached out to some celebrities and public figures. Over the past few years, the faces of the conservative movement have become Elon Musk — who has 14 children with four different women — the Paul brothers, who both have had multiple controversies as social media figures, and others who also seem unapologetic about their non-traditional lifestyles.
While conservatives point out and oppose seemingly un-Christian lifestyles of the left, many have turned a blind eye when it comes to those who are a part of the same party. The party has become one of anti-liberal talking heads instead of those who run as solely “conservative.”
The Republican Party’s platform has lost its substance by only opposing and provoking the left. Conservatives, if they want to stay strong after Trump’s second term ends, will have to search for a platform that focuses on traditional, family values rather than purely opposing the left and “woke.” Christianity and its values are what have built the Republican Party over the last 40 years and are needed for the party to regain a substantial identity.
