Can the G.O.P. Recover From the 'Big Lie'? We Asked 2 Conservatives

Matter of Opinion

New York Times Opinion

Society & Culture, Ross Douthat, News, New York Times, Journalism

4.2 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2022

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There’s a divide in the Republican Party between those who believe the ‘Big Lie’ — that the election was stolen from President Donald Trump — and those who don’t. But which side is ultimately the future of the party? That’s the question Jane Coaston poses to Charlie Sykes, a founder and editor at large of The Bulwark, and Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review. Sykes and Lowry discuss what the G.O.P. has learned from Donald Trump’s tenure as president and what Glenn Youngkin’s gubernatorial victory in Virginia might mean for the Republican midterms playbook. They also debate whether it’s Representative Liz Cheney or Marjorie Taylor Greene who’s a harbinger of the party to come. Also, if you’re a Republican, we want to hear from you. What do you think of the party right now and where it should go next? Would you be excited to vote for Trump in 2024? Or if you’re a former Republican, why did you leave the party? And who would you rather vote for instead? Leave us a voice mail message at (347) 915-4324 and we’ll share some of your responses later this month.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today on the argument, two conservatives on what's next for the GOP.
0:09.6	I'm Jane Kostin.
0:11.2	I've been reporting for years on conservatism and the American right, and thinking about
0:15.6	it for even longer.
0:17.2	I could tell you, there's always been division and discord within the Republican Party.
0:22.3	You should see the mail that William F. Buckley got.
0:25.6	The 2016 election just revealed where some of the deepest riffs lie, and then came January
0:31.4	6th.
0:32.4	Probably like a lot of you, I'm wondering, where does the Republican Party go from here?
0:38.0	I don't know.
0:39.7	And I don't think the GOP is sure either.
0:44.3	For me, the Republican Party can be summed up in one word.
0:48.6	No.
0:49.6	They exist to push back on everything Democrats want to do.
0:54.2	Because it's easier to be against things than to be for them.
0:58.8	But with midterms coming up, and more importantly, with the 2024 election, they're going
1:04.4	to have to figure out what they want.
1:07.4	And they're going to have to figure out what the shadow of Trump means for them moving
1:10.6	forward.
1:14.2	Neither of my guests today liked Trump, but they each see a different future for the GOP
1:19.7	left in his wake.
1:21.0	It is a party that right now, at the moment, is held hostage by Trump's big lie about
	...

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