Michael Reagan, son of President Ronald Reagan, is an author, speaker, and President of the Reagan Legacy Foundation. Send comments to reagan@caglecartoons.com.
Well, what do you know! Donald Trump finally did the right thing. He shut the hell up, encouraged his supporters to flood the polls, and stayed away from Virginia.
By keeping his powerful, big, political butt out of [the November 2, 2021,] elections in Virginia, the ex-President actually made a huge and positive contribution, to the devastating losses Democrats suffered there on Tuesday night.
Trump’s absence turned out to be a key for the Republican Party’s shocking success.
Instead of showing up and making Virginia’s elections about himself, stealing all the media attention, or rehashing how the 2020 election was stolen from him, Trump stayed home and allowed Glenn Youngkin to win by running his own brilliant campaign.
Youngkin, who did surprisingly well among Latino males and suburban soccer moms, was able to deftly thread the needle and hold on to hardcore Trump voters, without scaring off independents.
He and his diverse Statewide Republican running mates–a Latino Attorney General and Virginia’s first Black woman Lieutenant Governor, ex-Marine Winsome Sears–won, because they were able to hammer away on burning, local issues that mattered most to voters. They were able to focus on the teaching of racist theories in public schools. And they were able to look forward, and talk about the future, not the past, which is how you win most elections.
People have been calling me a Never Trumper on Twitter, because I’ve argued that it’s fine for Trump to intensely involve himself in Republican State primaries, but that he should stay away from General Elections in the fall. Virginia’s results, thank you very much, proved my argument is sound.
It has been obvious for a long time that in important General Elections Trump’s personal and political “charms” can suppress the Republican vote turnout and hurt the GOP’s chances. [This was the case in] Georgia’s special Senate races last December, that gave Democrats control of the Senate.
He can cause some squeamish, old-school, conservative Republicans to stay home on Election Day. And his presence can turn off many independents and moderate Democrats, who have come to their senses about the threat the progressives in Congress pose to America.
Trump is famous for not taking advice [and] giving bad advice. But by shutting up his mouth, stifling his ego, and not visiting Virginia, he finally did exactly what I’ve been telling him to do for a year, in my tweets and columns. Maybe he has been reading my columns. Where do I send the bill, Donald? Just kidding.
To paraphrase what my father liked to say, “It’s not about who gets the credit; it’s about getting the job done.”
What happened in Virginia last week shows what local Republicans can get done, when the party’s Mr. Crazy has the good sense to shut up and stay home.