When Vice President JD Vance closed out the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas, he made a direct plea to hesitant voters: Do not give the country over to left-wing extremists simply because you happen to disagree with the administration on a policy issue here or there.
The prospect of delivering legislative authority to a Democratic Party that struggles with gender identity, undermines law enforcement and flirts with antisemitism is an objectively miserable thought. But Vance’s entreaty relies on a premise that no longer holds water. The schism between principled conservatism and current Republican governance is a fundamental divergence over the proper role of government power.
In truth, the MAGA movement under Trump’s leadershiphas
become antithetical to conservatism and eerily akin to the woke socialists it so loudly critiques.
In Trump's tariff war, Americans lose
Let’s start with the economically illiterate obsession with protectionist trade barriers.
Free trade and international competition have unmistakably enriched the United States, giving consumers access to goods we would not otherwise have while forcing domestic industries to innovate. Yet the Trump administration’s reliance on sweeping import taxes treats foreign trade not as a system of mutually beneficial exchange, but as a transaction to be penalized.
Protectionist tariffsare taxes paid directly by everyday American families, serving as a recipe for higher prices and expanded federal control. Celebrating trade taxes as a permanent economic model merely suppresses growth, drives up cost-of-living expenses and grants bureaucrats unchecked authority to dictate market winners and losers.
Democrats have historically loved economic protectionism, not conservatives.
The most socialist administration in American history
Equally baffling is the Trump administration’s unprecedented comfort with direct state intervention in private enterprise. Taking direct government equity stakes in private corporations is a socialist foothold, plain and simple. Yet the federal government under this administration has actively taken ownership stakes in 31 private companies, spanning from semiconductor manufacturers to defense contractors.
If Barack Obama or any Democratic administration had acquired corporate equity shares with similar zeal, Republicans would have rightly lost their minds. They should be doing so now. The hard reality is that no other administration in American history has been as socialist in terms of direct government control over private industry than the Trump administration.
When congressional Republicans repeatedly condemn socialism and clap for Trump’s government ownership of private companies, they just look silly.
No strategy for national defense
That same lack of strategic discipline extends to national security. Despite endless campaign promises to avoid unnecessary foreign entanglements, the uncoordinated conflict with Iran demonstrates a staggering absence of defined objectives.
Sound national defense requires a coherent posture. We either needed to maintain relentless economic pressure, or we needed to demonstrate the unambiguous military resolve required to send troops and topple the regime. Operating in a permanent, meandering middle ground risks American lives without establishing clear bars for victory or withdrawal.
We haven’t secured Iran’s highly enriched uranium, the crazy regime is still in charge and navigating the Strait of Hormuz remains dicey. Our engagement in Iran is a misadventure that isn’t going well.
Cash handouts lead to more debt, inflation
Then there is the catastrophic trajectory of federal spending. We live in a reality where the public debt officially surpasses $40 trillion, yet Republicans are routinely expected to ignore this administration's staggering debt accumulation. In Dallas, the president actually stood on stage promising $5,000 cash dividend checks to every American adult on the sole condition that Republicans retain legislative control.
Flooding the economy with government handouts in the middle of an affordability crisis is a radically expansionary central planning scheme that would pour gasoline on inflation. Even Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called out the folly of borrowing over a trillion dollars for cash handouts, noting that borrowing to flood cash into the economy will inevitably lead to more debt and more inflation.
A government misaligned with the people
Instead of addressing these glaring structural failures, the national party apparatus retreats into empty distraction. We’re focused on inflating crowd sizes, AI-generated social media silliness, renaming geographic landmarks and unrelenting flattery of a single politician’s ego.
Americans don’t really care where Trump fancies himself in the annals of history. We’re concerned with extremely high gas prices, persistent inflation, a radically changing economy and a federal government that seems incompetent to do anything but add to the problems. Look on the bright side, the AI with a 10% chance of wiping out humanity itself can make an octogenarian president look like the Marlboro Man.
There are certainly areas of policy alignment. The administration’s firm posture on immigration law enforcement represents the best immigration policy posture of my lifetime. Prioritizing border security, enforcing statutory law and restoring administrative integrity is precisely what responsible executive governance looks like, and I am happy to offer credit where credit is due.
The Department of Government Efficiency was an excellent idea that ultimately floundered. To put it mildly, the swamp seems to have won the bureaucratic battle in Trump’s second term.
'Conservatives in Name Only'
Vance’s ultimatum demands that Republican voters overlook a mountain of ideological betrayals for the sake of partisan solidarity. Conservatives are expected to enthusiastically rally behind Republicans who act like socialistssimply because the alternative is a party that actually owns the label. This feverish, unprincipled cult of personality is a hot mess, sustained by Conservatives In Name Only (CINOs) with squid-like spines who prostitute principle to justify the actions of their preferred politician.
We can relentlessly critique Democratic socialists while refusing to copy their playbook. If the current Republican coalition falls in the upcoming election, it will be because voters realized the only thing worse than the party of socialism is the party that behaves that way and lies about it.
USA TODAY Network Tennessee columnist Cameron Smith is a Memphis-born, Brentwood-raised recovering political attorney who is raising four boys in Nolensville with his particularly patient wife, Justine. Send outrage or agreement to smith.david.cameron@gmail.com or @DCameronSmith on X. Agree or disagree? Send a letter to the editor at letters@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: GOP convention showcases 'Conservatives in Name Only' | Opinion
