Moreover, the Biden administration didn’t defund the police, but MAGA might. Last Wednesday, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, promised to “cut 3 percent from D.O.J., 7 percent from the ATF, 6 percent from the F.B.I., and 10 percent from the E.P.A.,” and, he said, “that’s just a start.” He claims that these cuts are due to federal “overreach,” but that’s also the justification for left-wing defunding efforts. MAGA likewise believes that law enforcement has abused its authority.
The most fraught issue for many conservatives considering crossing the aisle is abortion. That’s certainly the most difficult issue for me. But while Trump nominated the justices who helped reverse Roe v. Wade, he also failed on the most important metric of all: the number of abortions performed in America. Although Barack Obama was very much a pro-choice president, the abortion rate decreased by a remarkable 28 percent during his two terms, with 338,270 fewer abortions performed in 2016 than in 2008. By contrast, there were 56,080 more abortions by the end of Trump’s presidency in 2020 than there had been in 2016, and the abortion rate rose for three consecutive years, in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Compounding the problem for anti-abortion conservatives, the MAGA-dominated G.O.P. has been an electoral disaster. The anti-abortion position is failing even in red states. The MAGA ethos of corruption and cruelty is a poor fit for a movement that’s supposed to be dedicated to loving the most vulnerable among us.
I raise these issues not to argue that Reagan Republicans have a true home in a Biden-led Democratic Party. Of course profound differences remain, and the far left may prove implacably hostile to any conservatives in the Democratic tent. But Reagan (and Haley) Republicans also have such profound differences with MAGA that it is genuinely debatable which party now better advances their preferred policies.
But here’s what’s not debatable: While the ideological alignments of the two parties are in a state of flux, only one party is nominating a man who’s been impeached twice, indicted in four criminal cases, found liable for systemic financial fraud, and found liable for sexual abuse and for defaming his victim. He is a man who inspired and gave at least tacit support to a violent assault on the Capitol in an effort to overturn an American election.