With Donald Trump comments, Olympia Snowe still doesn’t understand Republican problems

We get it at this point. Donald Trump is a scary guy and it’s politically cool in the Republican Party to hate the controversial businessman if you’re mainstream, moderate, or otherwise not on the hard right of the party. We’ve heard it from the Republican leaders and figureheads, media talking heads and writers, and otherwise an army of party warriors determined to protect the brand.

Now former United States Senator Olympia Snowe has entered.

Snowe was quoted on the topic:

“This absolutely is hurting our brand,” says former Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. “The question is how we unravel going forward. I fear the effects could be long-lasting. It’s tragic.”

Snowe is no stranger to political exaggeration. A few years ago when she dropped out on her supporters because not everybody celebrated her, she blamed partisan politics that apparently didn’t exist prior to 2012.

The idea that politics was all rainbows and unicorns prior to recent memory is ridiculous. Partisanship and bitter bickering has been a tradition in politics for generations, and maybe Snowe needs to read up on the presidential election of 1800 to understand that.

The truth about the Republican Party is it has been a mess for a long time. President Barack Obama was elected in 2008 because the party is ineffective and their alternatives are awful, and for that same reason, the President was re-elected in 2012.

Is the moderate brand of the Republican Party damaged by the tea party rise of 2010, challengers like Scott D’Amboise in 2012, and Donald Trump in 2016?

There should be more to politics than being able to parrot shallow soundbites and believe that everything your party does is great. There should be a depth to the policies you believe in, understanding the effects of economics and the importance of the Constitution.

The Republican brand is damaged, but so is the Democrats. Party politics has long favored it’s own self-preservation and put itself before the people. This is why voters continue to switch to a third party or unenroll from political parties altogether. They’re tired of the childish antics and the shallow behavior.

Is Donald Trump hurting the Republican brand? The jury is still out, because history is still actively being written right now. Democrats and the media would certainly agree with Snowe’s assessment, but that doesn’t necessarily make it true.

Is Donald Trump helping the Republican brand? Probably not, but let’s face it, nobody is at this point.

Senator Ted Cruz is only gaining ground because the movement to stop Trump is greater than the dislike of Senator Cruz himself, leading many to swallow their pride in a desperate effort. Is this what this primary has come down to? Who do you hate slightly less than the other guy?

The rise of Trump and Senator Cruz is the product of years of Republican politics. Scapegoating Trump because there is a giant elephant pulling a heavy bandwagon doesn’t make it right. The Republican Party earned what it’s enduring.

Chris Dixon

About Chris Dixon

Chris Dixon is a libertarian-leaning writer and managing editor for The Liberty Conservative. In addition to his political writing, he also covers baseball for Cleat Geeks and enjoys writing on a number of other topics ranging on Medium.