Should I take a principled stand and leave the Republican Party?
This article is from The Editor’s Corner, with insights, short-posts, and general ramblings from Editor/Owner Justin Stapley.
As news began dropping that Republicans had garnered the votes to block witnesses in the impeachment trial, I tweeted the following:
Through it all, through thick and thin, I have maintained my Republican membership. But if Republicans block witnesses, if they lay the institutional integrity of the US Senate on the altar of Trump, that will likely be the final straw for me. I could be #ExGop very soon.
— Justin Stapley (@JustinWStapley) January 31, 2020
Meanwhile, the Senate has indeed voted to block new witnesses and additional evidence from being considered in the trial of Donald Trump. Senate Republicans have embraced the fast-track to acquittal.
I think I would be dishonest with myself if I didn’t admit that I am livid. If there are any central planks to my vision for American politics, it’s that we should roll back the imperial presidency and that Congress needs to reassert its proper constitutional place in the federal government. The integrity of the institution of Congress is very important to me.
All concerns and debates over whether or not Trump should be removed, or whether he should have been impeached in the first place, are secondary to my agitation over the Senate sacrificing its integrity, and the Senators violating their oaths, in order to voice their loyalty to Trump and maintain the support of his supporters.
It’s maddening, it’s disheartening, and it makes me wonder if the GOP is beyond redemption, at least in the present and near-future.
So, am I going to do it? Am I going to leave the Republican Party?
I Don’t Want To Leave the GOP
I know, I know. Those that are already #ExGop are pulling their hair out over my reluctance to leave the Republican Party. And their disbelief is joined in symphony by the cackling howls of Trump-supporting Republicans who think I can’t get the hell out of their party fast enough. In fact, just about everyone across the board is wondering why I didn’t leave the party years ago.
But I had good reasons to stay. Many of those reasons are still compelling. But those reasons are starting to be overwhelmed. I’m already a reluctant centrist. Must I be a reluctant independent too?
I Didn’t Follow the post-2016 #NeverTrump Trend
The day after the 2016 election, Evan McMullin called for principled conservatives to leave the Republican Party. Since then, there have been many conservatives who did just that, including several I highly respect like George Will, David French, and Justin Amash. But I had several concerns about abandoning ship.
First, I didn’t want my political affiliation predicated upon the actions of one politician. In 2016 and 2017, at least, Trump did not define the Republican Party. I did not want to set myself politically adrift as a knee jerk reaction. I didn’t want to be part of the cults of personality and anti-personality that I deride by overreacting to the words and actions of a single petty and vulgar man. I didn’t want to surrender my ability to support principled conservatives in the Republican Party and encourage an alternate vision from within the party.
Second, there’s more about political affiliation than just the President. In Utah, I have Senators that I mostly agree with and support. Under the direction of Utah’s Republican Party, my state has become a bastion of economic growth, limited government, and free society. Being involved with the Republican Party in local and state-level affairs has mostly been positive. I didn’t see the point of surrendering my place at the table here, where I live, in a protest against the President that was unlikely to ultimately make any real difference.
Third, I was trying to play the long game. I felt that, regardless of Trump, the Republican Party was still the institution best situated to reassert the values of American governance. I saw value in putting my efforts towards reclaiming the GOP. Or, at least, holding fast as a remnant of principle within the party, staying prepared to reassert traditional conservative values when Trump finally left the scene.
Lastly, I believe in the importance of party affiliation, coalition building, and healthy institutions. I want to be part of the conversation and not just a member of the peanut gallery. If I left the Republican Party, I didn’t want it to be a quixotic gesture. I didn’t want such a personal shift to be a jump into the open sea. Absent the ability to step from one wholly established and relevant platform to another, it didn’t make sense to abandon the platform that still had the most potential for asserting my values in the future.
The GOP’s New Reality
I felt I had sound reasoning for my decision to stay in the Republican Party. But year by year, outrage after outrage, and Republican acquiescence after Republican acquiescence, my will and determination began to weaken. And, with each mounting act by the President, the intraparty opposition to his behavior grew less and less. It’s now almost non-existent. It’s grown to be almost inescapable that the Republican Brand has become the Brand of Trump.
I don’t need to revisit Trump’s myriad words and acts that offend my conscience. I’m not a Trump supporter. I never have been, and I never will. But I have been a Republican, and I’d like to remain a Republican if I can in good conscience. But what is the new reality of the Republican Party? How much has its enabling of Donald Trump tarnished the party? Is this a political institution I can remain part of without tainting myself through association?
Four Questions
There are four questions I am currently asking myself as I consider this difficult choice before me right now:
- What has the Republican Party become?
- Has my membership actually accomplished anything?
- Will my continued membership only serve to offer assent to the party’s new direction?
- Will independence better serve my personal goals and political vision?
While I am pondering over these questions, I’d love to hear from others. Whether you’ve already left the party, whether you’re still an active member of the party, or if you’re in the same boat as me, trying to decide what to do. Let’s make this a conversation. Send your thoughts, or even article submissions if you want your thoughts here on the site, to my email: JustinStapley@TheLibertyHawk.com. Or reach out to me on Twitter or Facebook.
Justin Stapley is the owner and editor of The Liberty Hawk and the voice of The New Centrist Podcast. As a political writer, his principles and ideas are grounded in the ideas of ordered liberty as expressed in the traditions of classical liberalism, federalism, and modern conservatism. You can follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.

I’m in exactly the same spot. The representatives are not representing me but if I leave, I’ve basically let the GOP crazies take all sanity away from what we were. Do we stay and fight for the principles or create a new party???
How could anyone think that the Republican pay is a pay for any sound minded American? At one time I respected the pay and is members. Now I think it’s a party of Donald Trump and his way to far too the rights followers.
It’s been pointed out to me that the Whig party has resurfaced with a lot of the middle of the road conservatives. I googled it and sure enough it shows up on wiki. An option?
Early in life I would vote for the person not the party. Working in a state job , in a state that is supposedly filled with corrupt Dems, when the Republicans were in charge , they were just as corrupt. I find myself conflicted with politics. I’m pro organized labor, a strong believer in the second amendment, pro choice, equal rights. I believe in a helping hand not a hand out. There is no middle ground in either of today’s parties, because of their beliefs they have to take care of the extremist within their parties. So the middle of the road doesn’t have a viable representation.
The solution is ranked choice voting. RCV allows you to vote for multiple candidates in descending order of preference. If no candidate wins an outright majority with first choice voters, then the candidate with the lowest total votes is eliminated and all of their votes flow to their voters second choice. These rounds of elimination and vote flowing to voters other choices continues until one candidate has a majority. Here is a summary. https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV)
Imagine what the 2016 Republican primary results would have been if voters could have voted for their favorite and then down the line to their fifteenth favorite. Trump may have lead in the first round with a small plurality. But is there any doubt that he would have been enough people’s second, third, etc choice that he would have one a single primary. Or how about 1992. Clinton won because Perot split the ticket. But if Perot voters had the ability to give a send choice, does anybody think it would have been Clinton? Of course it can run the other way. In 2000 Ralph Nader siphoned off just enough votes from Gore to allow Bush jr to win. With RCV Gore would almost certainly have won.
And it would take a lot of the animosity out of campaigns because candates wouldn’t want to piss off supporters of other candidates because then they might not consider you for their second, third, etc choice.
And lastly I think it would favor the middle over the extremes since in a general election multiple candidates from the same nominal party could appear with moderates getting more cross over votes as second etc choices.
Like some of your other commenters, I have always voted the person not the party, and I have strong feelings that align with platforms on both sides. However, I would still call myself a Republican. Like Alex from Family Ties I followed Reagan and the Republican Party from his first presidential run in 1976. I was proud to say I was more Republican than anything else. Until 2016 when Donald Trump and his propaganda and fear mongering brought out the worst in my party and he was elected. I’d also followed him enough to know he would be a terrible president much like he is generally a terrible person to anyone except whom he bestows his favor. A “Republican” president who’s economic policies have skyrocketed Our National debt to the trillions? Unlike Trump we can’t just file for bankruptcy and reorganize. Your first commenter said who we “were”. Past tense. The Republican Party most people have known and loved in the past is dead. There can be no salvation for it now. Get out and call yourself independent until you figure out where you land. I finally had to come to terms with that myself in the last few months. I don’t know what I am now, but I know I’m not THAT!!
Why do people think Democrats are so bad? In ant case, the world has changed. We’ll be facing challenges we can barely contemplate. We all will need to be brave and honest. I think we should focus more on healing than war and we have to find new ways to keep this planet going…it can’t just be about economic growth anymore.
I left in 2018. I have never been more disappointed in the party. It used to be more balanced. When Newt started making it us vs them I just thought he’s a little wacky. However, the party has just kept going in that far right trajectory. Fast forward to Trump and how many other Republicans said he was a horrible candidate, it amazes me now how many tow the line of support for him. Even the ones he made fun of. If you can’t dissent at all, what are we?
As a democrat there have been many times i was not necessarily proud of the democratic party. And I do not have the tenacity of belief in a political party institution that so many republicans seem to possess. So my words may have little impact for one clinging to the hope of recovery when, and if, there is an end to this dispoian era in the American journey with democraty. Still, there are so many people that should be ejected before the republican party stands a chance to be the honorable institution it once was, so many terminally tainted individuals who have willingly and systematically eroded the foundation of your party for CASH. Perhaps the goals and aspirations your party sought to achieve did not come fast enough for them, perhaps self enrichment replaced the dissatisfaction. But more importantly, for those of us who want to be part of redemption for our country, perhaps its time for both parties to rethink our realtionship with democracy, and how we lost our way.
This article so eloquently said all that I’ve been feeling for quite a few years now. It’s hard in mainstream media to find a middle perspective – so you end up feeling alone – you are either with ‘em or against ‘em.
The Republican Party has swung so far that I feel their only REAL agenda is protecting Wall Street and stock prices. Trump has taken that and his ego to NEW levels!! I feel big corporate is as evil as big government. All they care about is golden parachutes and making money for shareholders. It’s getting more and more difficult for people to make ends meet even with “good jobs”. Working Americans (not enrolled in a Union) needs an alley and I don’t think it’s the Republican Party anymore – most of us don’t have a high enough net worth to be relevant.
It seems finding the middle ground and common sense in politics is nearly impossible. Party politics has taken over free thinking and following your constituents and/or conscience. However, my main difficulty in leaving the GOP is – where to go? While I don’t disagree with all of the Dem politics – they just go to far with taking care of everyone! I can’t afford their agenda and I can’t stomach government being that big and controlling!! The Independent Party hasn’t been able to really pull together a candidate.
Thank you for the forum to voice concerns!!
Right now, in my opinion, the Democrats are all that stand between us and the dissolution of this country as we know it.
The Republicans could well go the way of the Whigs. We need a viable, sane, two-party system though. So leave and look to build something new.