Top 5 Possible Post-Trump Directions for the GOP

by Josh Guckert

As the November 8 presidential nears closer, the Republican Party must come to the reality that it is about to suffer a serious defeat. Not only will Donald Trump likely lose in landslide fashion, he also risks hurting down-ballot Republicans. This could ultimately result in a loss of the Senate and a significant cut into the Republican majority in the House. The Republican National Committee will be faced with some serious decisions, beginning with whether to reelect Reince Priebus in January. More importantly, the party will have to decide which direction their party will take to ensure victory in 2018, 2020, and onward. Here are the top five possible directions they could take, from most-likely to least-likely.

1. Establishment Takeover

While not pleasant to think about, this is the most likely scenario. After taking a beating in the general election, the party establishment will glare at the grassroots and point out that “if they had only listened,” Hillary Clinton would have been defeated and the Senate would have been retained. The party could easily transition after some of the “Tea Party Senators” elected in 2010 are purged from their elected positions following only one term. The GOP could also create mechanisms in their delegate process to prevent any “insurgent” candidates from succeeding in 2020.

This scenario would be not much different than in 1968, when after selecting the ultra-conservative Barry Goldwater in 1964, the party turned to former vice president and 1960 nominee Richard Nixon in order to attain victory. While using some of the blueprint from the 1964 election to win (like the “Southern Strategy”), Nixon and others like George Romney and Nelson Rockefeller returned the GOP to being a “center-right” party for at least a decade.