As of today, there are 12 days until the general election.
It seems that with each passing day, Hillary Clinton becomes the more likely victor, despite shocking email releases from Wikileaks that in a normal election year would be detrimental for a frontrunner.
Many suggest that the nomination of Donald Trump, followed by the quick crumble of his campaign, signals the downfall of the GOP. While the events that have occurred in the past year and a half will certainly hamper the party, with sound strategy and smarter leadership the GOP can right itself before falling into obscurity.
As I previously noted, in future elections, Democrats will have the luxury of being able to pound Republicans who have endorsed Trump in this election. This is why the supposed party leaders such as Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, John Boehner, John Huntsman, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, Reince Priebus, John McCain and Marco Rubio, all of whom endorse, or at some point did endorse Trump, are unfit to lead the party in the coming years.
Republicans must look to those with sound conservative principles, who have never waivered in their disdain for their party’s presidential nominee. They must also look for candidates who would be better suited to diversify the voter base. If Republicans continue supporting the divisive rhetoric that is tossed around by Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions, Mike Pence and other flag bearers of the current movement, the voter base will continue to shrink as the country becomes increasingly diverse. While this task sounds nearly insurmountable, in reality there exist enough strong Republican leaders that implementation is possible.
Ben Sasse, junior senator from Nebraska, is an excellent option. Sasse, at only 44 years old, has a strong history of supporting conservative principles, a verifiably clean record and most importantly, has questioned and rejected Trump from day one. Rep. Will Hurd, at 39 years old, is another example of a young Republican with firm principles who has soundly rejected Trump. Further, Hurd, an African American from West Texas, could be a massive asset to a party that currently has a presidential nominee that is struggling to gain support from even five percent of black voters. Susana Martinez, the popular New Mexico governor, is another excellent example of the type of politician that the Republican Party must embrace. At 57, she is slightly older; yet, she is another boon for the Republican Party as she rejects the alienating politics of Trump, espouses conservative principles and represents two major voting blocks that the Republican Party loses handily to the Democrats: women and Latinos.
There are many more options for the Republican Party to turn to for stronger leadership. My examples merely stand to represent the type of leadership the party ought to embrace if one of its goals is continued survival.
While I am a registered Independent, I lean strongly towards the left of the political spectrum. Yet the downfall of the Republican Party is a scary notion for me. This is because when one party is strong, it causes the other party to shape up as well. Trump is handing this election to Clinton, who, in almost any other election, would most likely be losing. America deserves better and will only improve its options if the Republican Party heavily shakes up its leadership.
