Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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Kenny Rogers may have made the words famous, but residents and regular visitors to the Silver State know the often painful truth behind Rogers’ song “The Gambler.”
Particularly poignant right now are the lyrics to the second verse, in which Rogers sings “Every gambler knows that the secret to survivin’ is knowin’ what to throw away and knowin’ what to keep. ’Cause every hand’s a winner. And every hand’s a loser. And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.”
We’ve had a long-running conversation within the editorial board about whether or not we should keep betting on Republicans to get their house in order and put an end to the conspiracy theories, election denialism, and outright violent criminality of their white supremacist allies.
There were glimmers of hope as high-ranking Republican elected officials like Rep. Liz Cheney ofWyoming, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, Gov. Charlie Baker or Massachusetts, Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah and even former Vice President Mike Pence, despite agreeing with former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on more than 90% of policy issues, have refused to go along with the more violent and extreme elements of the cult of Trump.
Similarly, Republican officials and strategists such as former Republican National Party Chair Michael Steele, former Nevada State Chair Amy Tarkanian, and former Arizona Chair Rusty Bowers decried the big lie as a manipulative farce and decried Trump’s actions Jan. 6, 2021, as a dangerous coup attempt.
But perhaps the most important glimmer of hope was that we kept hearing from longtime Republican voters who said plainly and without hesitation that they still believed in honesty, decency, democracy and the rule of law.
Those small glimmers of hope led us to keep betting on the GOP, or at least its voters. We wanted to believe that when given a choice in the primaries between radical GOP extremists and principled conservatives willing to work across the aisle for the good of the country, GOP voters would reject the most extreme elements of their party. We wanted to believe that while there was the potential for tremendous harm in the GOP’s rhetoric, there was also the potential for tremendous good in its voters. We wanted to believe that although we are far from perfect, the United States is still a country that values hard work, honesty and integrity over personality, wealth and power.
Unfortunately, it’s now clear that we were wrong. And if the GOP wins a clean sweep in this fall’s general elections, America, and the vast majority of its people, will be playing a losing hand.
In the past few months, glimmers of hope were dashed as Tarkanian and Bowers got railroaded out of the parties they once led, for nothing more than admitting that Joe Biden won more votes than Trump in 2020. Simultaneously, election deniers became the official Republican candidates for governor and secretary of state in multiple states, including the swing states of Nevada, Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Then, last week, we saw the cult of Trumpism take to Fox News and social media to attack law enforcement officers and defend a man who stole classified information reportedly related to nuclear weapons, and lied about it multiple times to the Justice Department.
And on Tuesday, the final nail in the coffin, as the people of Wyoming — not just the party leaders, but everyday voters — turned out in overwhelming numbers to oust Cheney, a lifelong Republican whose only offense was upholding her constitutional duty to hold Trump accountable for his actions in leading a violent, armed insurrection at the US Capitol.
Given this incredible chain of events, and the fact that Trump loyalists now dominate the Supreme Court, it may not be too extreme to say that the best we can hope for is to die in our sleep.
To review, an authoritarian with delusions of self-grandeur is stealing classified documents apparently related to nuclear weapons — and the law enforcement officers investigating him are being painted as the bad guys.
Meanwhile Trump loyalists in the Secret Service are deleting text messages without the slightest commitment to their oaths.
Violent white supremacists are walking arm-in-arm, side-by-side with GOP leaders at the highest levels of government.
Candidates who vow to throw out legitimate votes of Americans and pledge to not certify results if their candidates lose are running to control elections across America, including Nevada.
The Supreme Court has abdicated its role as a neutral arbiter of the law in exchange for a transparently corrupt vision of a conservative Christian nation.
And after driving out most of its more moderate members, the GOP’s only feasible alternative for Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is following his own authoritarian playbook, step-by-step, as he uses his government position to target LGBT people, silence business leaders who might oppose him, legalize running down protesters with cars and refuse to respect the will of the state voters who approved plans to expand access to the ballot box.
We know it’s time to fold in this game of hoping for a return to decency and American values in the GOP. We know it’s time to walk away and let future generations or someone else sort out this mess. But leaving the table puts democracy in the hands of those who have gotten ahead through lying, cheating and violence. Walking away and leaving the problem for future generations assumes there will be a United States left for future generations to save.
So, we have no choice but to keep betting on the hope that someday a majority of GOP voters will find their voice and use it defend the Constitution, to defend democracy, to defend the rule of law, and to reject their party’s conspiracy theories — or even better, reject their party.
That’s why we’re calling on you, our readers, to help us double down and increase our bets.
If you have friends or family members who are not part of the cult of Trumpism but still hold onto their Republican identity, now is the time to talk to them about their exit strategy. MAGA has killed the values of traditional Republicans.
If you have the time or money to give to causes, candidates and campaigns that promote liberty, justice and equality for all Americans, now is the time to give even more.
If you have never voted or haven’t voted in a long time, now is the time to get registered and make a plan to go to the polls in November.
And if you have been considering leaving the Republican Party, now is the time to make it official.
Despite Rogers’ advice that the best gamblers know when to walk away and know when to run, we refuse to run when the future of our country is at stake. Americans who believe in democracy and the Constitution need to do all we can to be sitting at the table when those who are dealing from the bottom of the deck, are finally done. So, we’re betting on you, for America’s future.
