The Hill’s Top Opinions: Last chance for the GOP to save itself

View Online  Opinion Monday, October 31 ©  AP Happy Halloween. This is Daniel Allott with The Hill's Top Opinions.   With the midterms looming, editor and author William S. Becker has a question for Republicans: "How far does former President Donald Trump have to go before the GOP kicks him out of the party?"   Trump took over the party seven years ago. And with each new low of Trump's administration and post-presidency – including the "Big Lie" of a stolen 2020 election and the violence of Jan. 6 – most Republicans have stood behind him, Becker observes.     But rank-and-file Republicans have an opportunity to send Trump a clear message next Tuesday.   "On Nov. 8, grassroots Republicans who know that extremism and violence will not make America great could shake the party's leaders awake by boycotting the election, leaving the ballot blank in congressional races, refusing to vote for candidates Trump supports, or even writing in Rep. Liz Cheney."   How urgent is the situation?   Reports suggest that Trump and his allies are planning to use "scorched earth legal tactics" to challenge midterm election results, which, Becker writes, "threatens to turn the midterm election into chaos that further undermines confidence in the electoral system."   "Mainstream Republican voters who have not been infected by the MAGA virus should use their ballots to show party leaders Trump is no longer welcome in the GOP's tent," Becker argues.   "The MAGA virus is strong, but there may still be time to make the Grand Old Party great again."   Read Becker's op-ed here.   Not subscribed to The Hill's Top Opinions? Sign up here. MORE TOP OPINIONS Just how ominous is the China threat? By MICHAEL O'HANLON, Philip H. Knight Chair in Defense and Strategy at the Brookings Institution We need to approach the China threat with perspective. For all its potential seriousness, there remain at least three objective realities and structural restraints on China's behavior to date. China may now be the No. 1 strategic challenge to the United States, but it is not public enemy No. 1. Read the op-ed here 'Bakke to the future?' Supreme Court reconsiders affirmative action with a conservative majority By JONATHAN TURLEY, Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University Forty-four years have brought many changes, while other things have remained surprisingly the same: Bell-bottoms are back, James Taylor is still singing, the Chicago Bears are yet again working on a rebuild — and, yes, we are still debating race-based admissions criteria.  Read the op-ed here Is the 'secret majority' about to make a powerful statement on Nov. 8? By DOUGLAS MACKINNON, writer in Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations Come Nov. 8, we are about to get a number of critically important answers. Many of them will be shocking. One of the most shocking may be that there truly is a "secret majority" and they have learned how best to punch back against those they believe have canceled their voices. Read the op-ed here 2022 polling: The bad, the ugly and the really ugly By KEITH NAUGHTON, political consultant It is perfectly legitimate for polling estimates to be wrong. But legitimate polling should be wrong in a nonpartisan fashion — it should call as many races incorrectly for Republicans as it would for Democrats. The problem is that the polls have been wrong in one direction, favoring the Democrats — and that is systemic bias. Read the op-ed here QUICK TAKES COVID-19 did not make students' test scores drop. Our COVID policies did Will the Supreme Court impose a Republican government on the US?   Can Democrats translate policy wins to midterm victory?   Time for the United States to extend SpaceX's Starlink to Russia Stay Engaged The Hill's Top Opinions is written by Daniel Allott, an opinion editor at The Hill and the author of "On the Road in Trump's America: A Journey Into the Heart of a Divided Nation."   Views expressed by contributors are theirs and not the opinion of The Hill.   Check out The Hill's Opinion section online for the latest. Interested in submitting an op-ed? Click here. If you find this newsletter useful, please consider recommending it to others: thehill.com/opinion.  Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  Sign Up for Other Newsletters 1625 K Street NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 © 1998 - 2022 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved.

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