The True Story Behind the Rift in the Idaho Republican Party

Bob Dole was a Democrat.  He lost a contest for the U.S. House of Representatives in Kansas.  Someone pulled him aside and explained the district was so heavily Republican that a Democrat stood no chance of winning.  Dole switched parties and won a seat.  He then moved on to the Senate and later was the GOP nominee for Vice President in 1976 and President in 1996.  The Democrat he had been never left him.  He was described as a moderate.  His rise nationally coincided with the Age of Reagan, where conservatives took over the Republican Party.

I meet a lot of Republicans in Idaho who tell me they don’t want to be viewed as extremists.  They’ll say they’ve always been Republicans and that their poppa’s and uncles were Republicans.  Of the Dole variety or the Reagan array?

Some local members of the party warn me that the rise of the most conservative wing in Idaho will spell disaster, and division and that the Democrats will exploit the spat.

I beg to differ.  I believe the moderates are the problem.  The other party can’t regain working men and women (the majority of Idaho’s electorate) as long as the party supports grooming and the mutilation of kids.

Donald Trump changed the party nationally to be appealing to hard-working Americans as the liberals grew to despise the people who clean their pools, cut their grass, and fix their cars.  I’m not sure GOP moderates in Idaho have figured this out because if the Democrats ever get their act together, they’ll look to regain an old constituency.  It won’t be the conservative wing of the Republican Party driving away the base.

It’s because the old-guard GOP is what we used to call the swells.  They’re doing well.  They can’t understand that some potential voters are poor not by choice.  We’re not talking about lazy people.  We’re talking about people working two jobs to make ends meet.  If the swells were a little less greedy in hoovering up special interest campaign contributions, they might even spot their weakness.  They mouth all the right words about liberty, but they stood by during the so-called pandemic as big donors demanded workers take the jab.  Then they accuse the insurgents in their party of being impolite, angry, and uncouth.  Again, who is the titular head of the national GOP?  The swells can afford to pose for liberal media.  The rest of us wonder how we can keep a roof over our heads.  And then the swells wonder why we’re pissed.

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