A Message to Democrats from Your New Ally - Victory is near - by Stuart Stevens
Ive spent a lot of my lifefar too much in retrospectwaging war on the Democratic party. It was my job and I was good at it but in all those battles, even in the toughest of races, I never hated the other side. I wanted to win each race with the heat of a thousand suns and when I did lose, I found it sickening in a way that hung with me longer than any victory. But I never feared for the country if the Democrats won.
This year, for the first time in my life, Im helping out the other side, because I very much do fear for the country under an even more unrestrained Donald Trump. There are many good men and women in the Republican party, but they have proven themselves to be smaller than the moment demanded. They stink of fear and desperation and it breaks my heart to watch them flail around trying to convince the world, and themselves, that they are not who they have proven to be. I feel sadness. I feel pity. But not remorse.
Todays Republicans are not worthy of the great legacy they inherited. When grown men and women refuse to denounce a man who boasts he did not rape a woman because she was not my type, any semblance of public good has been lost. I cant direct the Republican party to the lost and found where it might reclaim its soul, but I do know that defeat, while not sufficient, is necessary in order for it to embark on that journey.
Its a strange feeling to be working on the side of those whom you fought for so long. Often in winning campaignsand the Democrats are winning this campaignthere comes a giddy sense of satisfaction when you near the end. I feel none of that. For me theres no joy in working against my former tribe. I think the experience must be a little like having been a member of the First Alabama Cavalry, the soldiers from the deep South who remained loyal to the Union. General Sherman relied on them as his personal escort. I suspect it was because he knew they had made a bitter choice that pitted them against friends and familyand once that line was crossed, they would not flinch seeing the task to completion. So it is with those of us who are, or once were, Republicans now fighting against Trump and Trumpism.
https://thebulwark.com/victory-is-near/
A decent man and worthy future opponent.
wryter2000
(46,023 posts)It Was All a Lie. He means all of the Republican/"conservative" lies. He also takes responsibility for his part in it.