Give me back my Republican Party

‘’God, Guns and Trump” is an omnipresent bumper sticker here, the new trinity. The evangelical church has proved to be a supplicating audience for the Christian Nationalist roadshow. Indeed, it is unclear to me many Sundays whether we are hearing a sermon or a stump speech.”

Those words are not mine. I had vowed not to write about Christian nationalists until I was older and much wiser. But when I read a column in the New York Times recently, I knew you wouldn’t want to wait or miss it. It wasn’t written by some sophisticate fresh out of an Ivy League university, but by a church going woman in Casper, Wyoming whose husband served 14 years in the Wyoming legislature as a Republican and in 2016 ran in the congressional primary against Liz Cheney. Susan Stubson, the author, was raised a Catholic and converted to an evangelical Protestant church when she married long ago. She is a committed Christian who finds Christian nationalism “sinful.” Her law practice may shrivel in a state that went for Trump got 70 percent and Liz Chaney lost by 30 percent in her primary. So Stubson didn’t speak out casually. It took guts.

Her interaction with a Christian nationalist may explain why she was compelled to say what she felt. “…. a burly man wearing a “God bless America” T-shirt and a cross around his neck said something like, ‘He’s got my vote if he keeps those (epithet) out of office,’ using a racial slur. What followed was an uncomfortable master class in racism and xenophobia.”

I have assumed there were some Republicans like her, including in Iowa, but I haven’t read words she writes describing her political home. It gives me hope. She deplores “solidarity with a candidate like Donald Trump who gave a name to a perceived enemy: people who do not look like us or share our beliefs. Immigrants are taking our guns. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. You are not safe in your home. Religious freedom is on the gallows. Vote for me.”

What does all this mean outside of Wyoming? Does it make any difference here? You judge. If Susan Stubson represents just 5 percent of Republicans who always vote, any Republican candidate who won by 10 percent is in jeopardy. Instead of 55 percent, he or she can expect only 50 percent. A Democrat who got only 45 percent last time now gets 50 percent. In Iowa, that could mean Democrats pick up two seats. It even means if Trump is the Republican candidate in 2024, Iowa could go from red to blue.

Donald Trump may embrace our burly thug and his buddies; Ron DeSantis may cozy up to them. But neither has persuaded at least one lifelong true Republican Christian voter who wrote the article.

“Christian nationalists have hijacked both my Republican Party and my faith community by blurring the lines between church and government and in the process rebranding our state’s identity.”

I can think of no better illustration of the calamitous force of Christian nationalism than a room full of faith leaders, regret lined deep in their brows, expressing shame and disappointment in those they were called to lead.”

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s press secretary.