Demographic changes in the U.S. mean that if the Republican Party is to stay relevant, it cannot be the current party of Trump.
On Tuesday, Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, the only Republican African-American woman in the House of Representatives, penned an op-ed calling for the GOP to move beyond its white voter base and embrace diversity.
She argues, “We have especially failed to bring our message to, and connect with, women and racial minorities. And we have effectively written off cities as Democratic strongholds. Our nation is poorer for it.” Love goes on to explain that “We must invite, not just tolerate, diverse perspectives to the table and ensure that their voices matter.”
She’s undeniably right. And there are there will be real consequences for the GOP if it continues to alienate large and growing segments of the country with Trump’s and other Republican’s radicalized language that does the very opposite of what Love advocates.
Census projections show that by 2020, less than half of the children in the U.S. will be “non-Hispanic white alone.” For many Republicans, relying largely on white voters to stay in office, that should be a clear warning – there is a limited time frame during which playing to white voters at the expense of others will work.
As Love outlines, Republican ideas can have broad appeal. Free trade, civil liberties, fiscal responsibility, and limited government, for example, benefit the entire country. But a tendency, exacerbated under Trump, to alienate minorities and women has gotten in the way of pragmatic discussions on policy.
After all, when the party’s presidential candidate ran successfully on a platform of building a wall against “bad hombres,” implementing a “Muslim ban,” and seeing nothing wrong with advocating “grab’em by the pussy,” it’s not hard to understand how those interested in polices would feel alienated.
If “Trump’s America,” in part defined by its alienation of minorities and women, is to be the future of the GOP, then the party will age out of existence – and it will deserve that fate. A political party should represent the country, not an increasingly narrow sliver of the population.
Thankfully, Republican’s like Mia Love and others are interested in truly representing the country and their colleagues should learn from their example.
