Republican Operative Doug Heye had a prescient statement that likely took many by surprise for its honesty about the Republican Party. Until more Republicans can say the things he said, the party will remain the party full of the isms.
This Republican Operative must be commended for his honesty
Republican Operative: ‘I can’t look any minority in the eye now and say vote GOP’ https://t.co/IDn1q33FMH pic.twitter.com/gy70mQ0lie
— Egberto Willies, Politics Done Right host 🇺🇲🇵🇦 (@EgbertoWillies) December 8, 2017
Doug Heye made it clear that it is impossible to sell the Republican Party to those people it needs for its survival because of who they’ve become.
CNN Host Poppy Harlow asked Doug Heye for his thoughts on Trump’s support for Roy Moore.
“Certainly he had been inching his way up there earlier this week,” Doug Heye said. “We saw his Moore full-throated support. And now we see this today, the comments from the President.”
Doug Heye then made sure all knew who he worked for in the Republican Party to give credence to the gravity of his words.
“I’ll tell you as a Republican,” Heye said. “Let me give you Poppy just real quickly my background. My first job in politics was for Jesse Helms. I think a lot of people know his history and his record with race. Later on, I went twice to work for Michael Steele who became the first African-American RNC Chairman. And then later worked for Eric Cantor who was the highest ranking highest Jewish Republican in electoral history in this country. So I think about race and the Republican Party a lot. I think about what we’ve done wrong. I think about what we try and do and how we can do right.”
Heyes then laid into what the Republican Party has become.
“What really troubles me right now after two years of Donald Trump castigating immigrants,” Heye said. “Going after minority families and now these latest comments about Roy Moore, saying that the last time America was great again was in slavery because somehow families were intact. When we know that, slave families were, ripped apart time and time again. It makes it really hard for me to identify what we’re doing right regardless of policy. And it makes me, it makes it impossible for me to look any African American, any Hispanic American friend, any minority in the eye and say, ‘You know what? Now’s a good time to vote Republican.’ I just think there are a whole lot more important things than wearing a red hat and saying MAGA.”
It is wonderful watching a few center-right Republicans develop a spine. It would have been great if it was done during the primaries and the general election. David Brooks wrote an excellent op-ed today that described the rot that said dereliction created within the party. While I agree with most of it, I took exception to a couple of issues. But his critique of his former party is important.