Trump and the Republican Future: A Georgia Professor's Lament and Rejoicing

Now, five weeks after our presidential election, there remains much tension and some confusion about our political situation and the destiny of our political order.  No prospect is more unclear than the future of the Republican Party, and the impact of the Trump Presidency and persona weighs heavily into any related calculation.  The myriad campaign lawsuits to influence the election outcome, the Paxton/Trump comic Supreme Court juggernaut, and the choir of  sycophantic Republican voices--including the Gang of 106 who back the Paxton and the Trumpian assault on democratic processes--suggest the rot is much deeper than most people could have imagined.  While the possibility of Democrats winning both of Georgia’s U. S. Senate seats on January 5, currently held by two leading Trumpian fawners, is unlikely, there has been long term damage to the Republican Party in Georgia and in the nation. The culprit is President Donald Trump and his band of enablers.

As a political science professor for three decades and a Republican, the slow decline of the Republican Party, not to mention the diminishing role of political parties in our politics more generally, have been a great concern to me.   The Founders were of two minds in regards to political parties, considering parties as little more than “factions” and sources of political corruption on one hand, but on the other hand, as James Madison noted, parties are also “natural to most political societies.” 

When my students visit Europe or other parts of the world on study abroad trips, they often return to regale me with stories of how vital political parties are in the countries they visit, and how they purchased political memorabilia at every stop, and were constantly engaged in political discussions during their travels.   Political parties remain vital in Europe, for example, because the only way a person can run for office is to typically be nominated by a political party, and voters are more likely to use a party label to select the representatives in any given election as well.

While our political parties are in decline, our parties are the oldest in the world.  As the result of changes in our political culture and the laws and regulations that dictate the work of parties, they are no longer as powerful as our parties were in the past.  The rise of celebrity politics also allows previously marginal or disaffected figures to seek political office outside of the normal process of recruitment and selection that was central to the life of our political parties.  The slight nostalgia some may experience in persistence of and the eventual election of Joe Biden does not mean the Democratic Party is immune from these challenges as well. 

In the Age of Trump, however, no one should be surprised that the Republican Party must now chart a path to recovering their vitality, and the answers are not simple.  The sources of renewal can be found some place between the “Never Trump” advocates, who opposed Trump even before he was the Republican candidate in 2016, and the deniers of democracy, including our two senators, who continue to invent evidence of election fraud and urge we Georgia citizens not to vote in the upcoming Senate runoff elections. 

For starters, Republicans have to admit that the Trump experiment, to put it delicately, was a failure, and that Trump lost the 2020 election.  The Biden Administration has already announced plans to reverse many of Trump’s initiatives, and Trump’s actual successes in domestic and foreign policy were either accidental or of fleeting significance.  To make matters worse, Trump, out of his own ignorance and abject narcissism, continued the anti-democratic practice of recent presidents by simply issuing executive orders to exert his political influence.  Unfortunately for Trump, a President Biden, or the incoming Congress, or the Federal courts can strike down his executive orders, especially in cases where he exceeded his constitutional powers.  Trump, the anti-democrat, will see his policy initiatives undermined very quickly.

With the 2020 election, we can trust Chris Krebs, the technological boy wonder of Bush Administration and Microsoft fame, and Trump’s own Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).  Krebs was on the mark when he stated that the 2020 election was "the most secure in American history."  Krebs’s comments were soon echoed by Attorney General William Barr, Senator Romney and others, with Senate Majority Leader McConnell promising an “orderly transfer” of power.  While Krebs truth-telling led to his own Twitter dismissal by Trump, the reality cannot be denied by any honest observer.  Sad gatherings led by once-prominent lawyers in our state in the last week, abusing the populist tenor of the contemporary Republican Party’s electorate, and urging Republicans not to vote in the January runoff election, only undermine our faith in elections and democratic practices, and damage Republican electoral prospects now and in the future.

Amidst the confusion, Republicans can recover from the loss of the White House, but the process will be painful and require serious engagement with our democratic principles that Trump has actively undermined.  We must affirm the value of frequent and free elections, and not attempt to undermine voting.  The central value of a free press, even in our media age that offers a smorgasbord of ideologies for our choosing, remains a central democratic value.  Republicans must aggressively cultivate the authentic media and seek the truth at all levels instead of sponsoring and abetting sources of disinformation.  In returning to the traditional Republican “politics of prudence,” as my mentor Russell Kirk described it, we must serve as the loyal opposition to the incoming Biden Administration, strengthening local and state party organizations along the way.  The time-honored Republican notions of a strong national defense, budgetary restraint, the free exchange of economic goods, and the principled diffusion of political power, demand reinvigoration in the coming years.  We also cannot neglect the recruitment of statesmen instead of celebrities at all levels.  If vigilant, the Republican Party can be renewed, and America needs a vibrant two-party system.

 

H. Lee Cheek, Jr. is Professor of Political Science and the former dean at East Georgia State College, and a Senior Fellow of the Alexander Hamilton Institute.  Cheek’s books and other publications can be viewed at www.drleecheek.net.

  

Dr. Cheek Wins Statewide Teaching and Mentoring Award

     At the annual meeting of the Georgia Political Science Association, Dr. Lee Cheek, Professor of Political Science and former Dean at East Georgia State College, was awarded the James T. LaPlant Award for excellence in teaching and mentoring in political science.  Cheek was nominated for the prestigious award by his students, former State Representative and current professor, Roger Byrd, and State Representative Matthew Gambill (District 15).  In nominating Cheek, both Byrd and Gambill noted that “We strongly believe Dr. Cheek’s profound commitment to student mentoring and preparing political science students for careers in public service and the law demonstrate he is a deserving recipient of the award.  During his thirty-five years of teaching in and leading political science programs, Dr. Cheek has amassed an amazing record of success in mentorship that continues even today.  We both were, for example, political science majors under Dr. Cheek’s tutelage.”

     The James T. LaPlant Award recognizes exemplary student teachers and mentors at either the undergraduate or graduate level. The award provides recognition to a faculty member for outstanding service to students.  The decision is made by an award committee of past presidents, chaired by the immediate past president.

     In terms of Cheek’s personal and professional “narrative,” he began teaching and mentoring students at Western Carolina University in 1986, where many of his students were encouraged to assume positions in state government and in the diplomatic ranks.  He created a model experiential program called the Washington Practicum, and took students to Washington, D.C., every semester for an extensive public policy experience.  He continues to lead this groundbreaking program, which now has a strong alumni base of support as well.

     The remainder of Cheek’s career has been spent at several institutions: Brewton-Parker College, Lee University, Athens State University, University of North Georgia, and East Georgia State College.  At Brewton-Parker College, Cheek actually created a political science program and served as division chair from 1997-2000.  Over thirty students majored in the program Cheek developed and the majority of these students remain in public service or education pursuits.  According to Gambill, “Cheek implemented a process of student mentoring, civic awareness and engagement that has continued from his first day of teaching in 1986 until today.  His “pattern” or “model” is wonderfully wise and productive: at every institution where he has taught, Dr. Cheek has created student research forums for political science student research; taken students to political science professional meetings on at least a yearly basis; created internships of both a policy and law orientation available to all students; and, he has created honor society chapters to celebrate student accomplishments.”

      For Gambill, “While Cheek has always been aware of the need to explore, counsel, and promote the professional possibilities of political science students, his efforts began to prosper at an even higher level.”  Gambill continued: “In his last year at Lee, for example, ten of his Lee University political science students were accepted into law school, a record for law school admissions during an academic year within the Appalachian College Association.  It is not hyperbolic to suggest that his pattern of career mentorship has been remarkable, especially given his commitment to institutions without large support networks or endowments.”

     “For all these years, Cheek has also involved many of his students in student-faculty research opportunities.  When one encounters one of Dr. Cheek’s books, each introduction, for example, is filled with notes of gratitude to the students who helped him in his research and the preparation of the manuscripts,” suggests Professor Byrd.

     Dr. Cheek continues to direct College's Correll Scholars Program.  He received his bachelor's degree from Western Carolina University, his M.Div. from Duke University, his M.P.A. from Western Carolina University, and his Ph.D. from The Catholic University of America.  As a senior minister in the United Methodist Church (Western North Carolina Conference) for thirty years, Cheek has served as a parish minister, visiting cleric, and U.S Army chaplain.

     Dr. Cheek He has been a congressional aide and a political consultant. Dr. Cheek's books include Political Philosophy and Cultural Renewal (Transaction/Rutgers, 2001; reprinted, Routledge, 2018 [with Kathy B. Cheek]); Calhoun and Popular Rule, published by the University of Missouri Press (2001; paper edition, 2004); Calhoun: Selected Speeches and Writings (Regnery, 2003); Order and Legitimacy (Transaction/Rutgers, 2004; reprinted, Routledge, 2017); an edition of Calhoun's A Disquisition on Government (St. Augustine's, 2007; reprinted, 2016); a critical edition of W. H. Mallock's The Limits of Pure Democracy (Transaction/Rutgers, 2007; reprinted, Routledge, 2017); Confronting Modernity: Towards a Theology of Ministry in the Wesleyan Tradition (Wesley Studies Society, 2010); an edition of the classic study, A Theory of Public Opinion (Transaction/Rutgers, 2013; reprinted, Routledge, 2017); Patrick-Henry Onslow Debate: Liberty and Republicanism in American Political Thought (Lexington, 2013); and, The Founding of the American Republic (Notre Dame University Press, 2022 [forthcoming]). He has also published dozens of scholarly articles in academic publications, and is a regular commentator on American politics and religion. Dr. Cheek’s current research includes completing an intellectual biography of Francis Graham Wilson (I.S.I. Books), and a book on Patrick Henry's constitutionalism and political theory. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Studies in Burke, Humanitas, The Political Science Reviewer, Anamnesis, VoegelinView, and The University Bookman, as a Senior Fellow of the Alexander Hamilton Institute, and as a Fellow of the Academy of Philosophy and Letters (elected). Cheek has been a Fellow of the Wilbur Foundation, the Earhart Foundation, the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy, the Center for Judicial Studies, and the Center for International Media Studies. Dr. Cheek lives on Tybee Island, Georgia, with his wife, Kathy B. Cheek.