Veteran GOP consultant says party abandoned character for Trump

Stuart Stevens, a veteran Republican political consultant, wrote in a Mississippi Today Ideas essay that the Republican Party has abandoned its long-standing emphasis on presidential character and embraced Donald Trump despite his conduct.

Stevens cited a string of conservative texts and figures who once stressed character. He quoted William Bennetts 1998 line that a president is “the symbol of who the people of the United States are,” referenced Peggy Noonans book “When Character Was King,” James Q. Wilsons 1993 “The Moral Self,” and a 1998 line from George Will. He also recalled that while working on the George W. Bush campaign, the message “restoring honor and dignity to the White House” was the most effective line in ads, he wrote.

In the essay, Stevens criticized remarks by Trump and other Republicans, saying they have eroded the nation’s sense of itself. He cited Trumps 2015 remark calling Mexicans rapists, the comment “I just wish her well” about Ghislaine Maxwell and a reference he attributed to a Trump ally about killing Iranians, “We might do it again for fun,” as examples of conduct that, in his view, corrodes public standards.

Stevens compared the U.S. situation unfavorably to Ukraines response to the Russian invasion, saying Ukrainians have shown pride and moral resolve. He wrote that the Russian miscalculation about Ukraines willingness to resist marks the largest European land war since World War II and that Ukrainian character will be celebrated for generations.

Stevens concluded that the Republican movement that once insisted presidents be moral exemplars “folded” when it became politically convenient, choosing victory over principle. The Jackson native and longtime consultant has worked on high-profile Republican campaigns and has been affiliated with the Lincoln Project; he is the author of the 2020 book “It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump,” he noted.

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