As Americans witness the next political era of electoral campaigns within the United States, they will be subjected to various policy solutions concerning foreign affairs, economic issues, and cultural explanations. While they may see blurred lines on common Republican positions such as abortion, taxes, and allocation of government funding to places like Veterans Affairs, there are distinguishable differences in the GOP on other, more controversial topics.
Lines are being drawn, however, on how to create a nationalist approach to the modern Republican voters and have them buy into how the party should steer in that direction.
Most recently, the main conversation surrounding these differences has centered around the United States' monetarily and militaristic involvement in the Russian-Ukrainian war. 2024 GOP presidential candidates including Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, Mike Pence, and Asa Hutchinson prioritize the old-fashioned neoconservative policy solution of foreign aid and support to Ukraine to defeat Russia and weaken a world superpower.
In harkening back to the 1980s style of Republican foreign affairs, these four act as if it is of the utmost importance to ensure that America is a world superpower to be directly involved in this war, regardless of the outcome or eventual consequences, such as boots on the ground.
However, this has sparked distinct differences from the front-runners for the nomination. Candidates Donald Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy have clearly stated they do not support foreign aid to Ukraine, want people to stop being killed, and advocate for peace negotiations that would end the war instead of escalating it. This position has become so popular among the GOP base that candidates like Ron DeSantis have flip-flopped on the subject, going from stating that he would want to fight back against Vladimir Putin, then saying the United States should have little to zero involvement.
While this is typical political fodder among figures in a primary, the fact that it can make one of the top three contenders within the primary hear the base and change his position because of backlash shows how far nationalism and populism have come in influencing the GOP's voter base. Candidates like DeSantis feeling the pressure the base puts on them for issues such as foreign policy has remained one of the most effective ways to change the party from within from a nationalist conservative perspective.
Ultimately, nationalism is about prioritizing one's own country and its indemnity. Conservatives have traditionally embodied the American spirit and patriotism more than progressives throughout history. Still, the onslaught of nationalist thought has genuinely come to fruition just in the last seven years or so.
Positions such as pardoning whistleblower activists like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange are increasingly becoming more tenable beliefs than a decade ago. Fighting back against our government's involvement with the Chinese Communist Party and its tools, such as TikTok and farmland purchasing, has become a priority among some of the GOP's most influential political figures.
Some of these thoughts would not even enter the mind of conservative thought leaders even ten years ago, and they have now become some of the most common mainstream positions within the party.
Nationalism has got a bad rap over the past few decades. Still, the Republican embrace of the policies that endorse the ideology in policy approaches to foreign affairs and economic issues and exposing intra-governmental corruption show its actual impact on the GOP, and for a good reason.
Kenneth David Cody III is a conservative writer and activist from Northeast Tennessee. He also serves as the Southern Regional Director for Republicans for National Renewal, and is chairman of the Cocke County GOP. Mr. Cody is also an Economics and English Teacher at Cosby High School. He has an M.A. in Teaching 6-12th Grade English, from Tusculum University, and a B.A. in English Literature, from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Read Kenny Cody's Reports — More Here.