Time to turn the page

Being wise and conservative is not aligned with being Trumpian. We once went to war against the unthinkable idea of Hillary Clinton as president; as the saying goes, you go to war with the generals you have. Today is a different war and we may choose a different general if we want to run the electoral table and see true reform, and put electoral integrity issues behind us.

The nation needs to move forward and not get trapped in the Trump ego cycle. A prosperous nation is a team effort, and we know what is required. Many of the policies under President Trump provided fruit, and that is essential to keep in mind. It is not about the man; it is about the strong efforts of the GOP team and their widespread impact.

Our foreign policy challenges, especially from China, are far too serious for us to be weakened economically. We as Americans have the capacity to grow and thrive in a manner that can pay for peace through strength, but we cannot do this in the tax-and-spend system where we find ourselves today, which is quicksand.

It is time to close the door on the political world of Mr. Trump; golf is a great game, so go play more of it, Mr. Trump. The suburban women who came out in droves to vote against him in 2020 will do so again. He will make it more difficult for those down ballot GOP candidates to win. A fresh face with a solid record will not elicit the negative feelings from those he has offended again and again.

The nation needs to heal, and Mr. Trump is no healer. Gerard Baker, not known as being associated with “fake news,” wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Jan. 4: “The primary responsibility [cause of Capitol Hill riot of Jan. 6, 2021] lies with the man — the president — who armed them with the false information: the allegations of a ‘stolen’ election that led them to the Capitol in the first place.” We cannot go on twisting in the wind of one man’s impulsive and self-centered ways.

The National Review Online is no center for the political left; it wrote Jan. 6:

There is also no defense of what Donald Trump did to summon the crowd, tell it that there remained any option but counting Biden’s electoral victory, and urge the assemblage to march on the Capitol because “if we allow this group of people to illegally take over our country . . . you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Trump’s recklessness disgraced the office of the presidency.

We have so many other candidates to consider; they include persons who can bring out droves of new GOP support and pull up those down ballot into large majorities in both houses, such that true reform can happen. Some of the big goals are strictly limiting taxation to a flat tax and small national sales tax on everything but food and medicine. The underground economy will finally contribute in a substantial way and the rest of us will not be burdened by overwhelming paperwork and nitpickers.

We want the top of the ticket team in 2024 able to turn out a massive vote that makes it perfectly clear as to who the winner is, making this upcoming cycle an electoral palate cleanser. Polls suggest Hispanics are now split evenly between the Democrats and the GOP; this is a strategic moment that calls for fresh faces to lead us. We must turn the page.