Special to WorldTribune, January 4, 2019

By Ed Martin

​While there are many nuances and sub-text to the drive-by shooting of President Donald Trump by incoming junior Senator Mitt Romney, three primary messages come through that are likely to define politics in America for the foreseeable future.

First and foremost, Romney was expressing the outrage by the neo-conservative and internationalist establishment to the president’s announced withdrawal of troops for Syria and the pull-down in Afghanistan.  For the first time, Trump had actually moved in a concrete way in opposition to the globalist agenda of American Empire.  As no less an internationalist voice than Robert Kagan in the same issue of the Washington Post noted, opposition to the president’s move is far less vocal and active outside the Beltway than in.

To be clear, Americans are tired of seeing trillions of dollars wasted on the multiple wars where the direct interests of the United States are nowhere to be found.  They are bone tired of seeing 20-somethings with artificial limbs.  And they are more than sick of the damage our aggressive foreign policy under the neo-cons has done to the image of and support for America around the world.

Whether Romney and his ilk want to admit it or not, there is growing opposition to their Trotskyite push for world domination.  Most Americans want to live in peace and build for their families.  They do not harbor the feverish dreams of Empire that seem to motivate so many in Romney’s world.

Second, Romney’s call for calm and a change in tone is nothing less than an open invitation to the increasingly radical Democrat Party to go back to the days when Republicans were expected to provide cover and extra Congressional votes for extremist proposals.  This should not be a surprise to anyone.  The vile scheme known as Obamacare — a law passed under dubious methods by the corrupt and venal Harry Reid on Christmas eve when most Americans were not paying attention — had its origins in the destructive and costly Romneycare imposed on the citizens of Massachusetts when he was their carpetbagger Governor.

He is pining for the days of former Republican Minority Leader Bob Michel, a time where conservatives were pushed to the side — or ignored altogether — while the GOP looked only at grabbing a few crumbs from the table, usually for themselves and not their constituents or the nation.

But those days are thankfully gone for good.  Without conservative votes, the Republican Party is little more than a cult, an historic anachronism that persists because of inertia.  There is virtually no “party” anywhere in the country.  As Eric Hofer observed, every great idea starts as a cause, becomes a business and ends up a con.  The GOP is deep in the “con stage.”  Nothing someone like Mitt Romney is going to do can change that.

And finally, and most importantly, the Romney screed was a declaration of war.  For much of the past 70 years, the conflict inside the Republican/conservative orbit was managed.  On a rare occasion or two, conservatives would win and the established elements would publicly support the winner while working overtime to undercut them.  The globalist, big government zealots — masquerading as believers of the limited government Republic majority impulses — held sway.

What the election of Donald Trump did was rip the scab off in one bold move.  Yes, he mistakenly allowed the denizens of Congress to convince him to allow the RNC to staff his government.  But slowly he is ridding himself of these people.  And, yes, for all his skill in many areas, he has naively believed the hucksters and con-men too many times.  But his instincts are strong.  And those instincts are what millions of Americans are willing to fight for — an agenda of ending the nightmare of American Empire and returning to a foreign policy of self-interest, an end to the crony capitalism that dominates the Democrat as well as the establishment GOP, honor and respect for traditional culture, trade and economic policies that build the American middle class, not ship all the assets to Mexico or China, and most important, defending the borders and sovereignty of the United States.

Romney and his clan of misfits, over-educated dreamers and party hacks oppose all of this.  What had been a polite fight over policy or position is now what it was always going to be — out and out warfare for the survival of America.  And should the Romney crowd prevail — should they drive Trump from office and reassert their control over the dead husk called the Republican Party — it will gain them nothing.  The people will not go back.  This is realignment — messy, dangerous and unsettled.  But it has been a long time coming.  Many of us are glad it has arrived so that stench of Romney-style Republicanism can be washed away once and for all.

That is what the Romney op-ed — in the pages of the most anti-American, crypto-socialist rag in the nation — was saying.  And the message was not lost on anyone.

Ed Martin is President of the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles. He was the chairman of the Missouri Republican Party from 2013-15. He can be reached at ed@phyllisschlafly.com