Chris Vance

Some will remember Dan Evans as a fearless political warrior, fighting for a Republican Party that was not just moderate, but proudly progressive.

Despite the years of bitter struggle, the differences between the Evans supporters and the Reaganites were really rather subtle.

Republicans are a danger to democracy and the Constitution, yet Democrats seem unable or unwilling to unite behind a centrist agenda to stop them.

This drives Democrats crazy, but most suburbanites live paycheck to paycheck and have had to stretch to afford the mortgage on our house, so we do not want our taxes raised. And when you say you just want to tax “the rich,” we don’t believe you. Besides, we all want to be rich someday.

The Republican Party has not exactly split – yet – but chunks of it are breaking off. This new center-right movement is a reality. But where does it go from here?

If the 2020 election results had matched the polling, Republicans would have suffered a comprehensive, crushing defeat that might have broken the fever of Trumpism and helped more traditional Republicans restore the GOP to sanity. Unfortunately, the polls were wrong again.

Many of us are in discussions about the possibility of creating a new party, or a new political faction.

Suddenly there are Republican elected officials who seem willing to break with Trump and the base., perhaps even creating a new party.

The end of the cold war, and the painful Mideast wars which followed 9/11, caused many to question America’s defense and foreign policy, but now we have enough information to indicate that America First isolationism makes the world a more dangerous place.

Trump probably cannot spell “authoritarianism,” much less define it. But he has the instincts of a wannabe Duce, and he has been running the authoritarian playbook since he took office.