Republicans can stop following Trump whenever they want | Opinion
I know that a lot of Republican candidates and officeholders are afraid of President Donald Trump and fearful of angering his core base of supporters, no matter what he says or does.
Affordability seems to be the pressing issue for the November elections. But I would argue another "A" word is the key to Republican chances in 2026: Appeasement.
Look, I know that a lot of Republican candidates and officeholders are afraid of President Donald Trump and fearful of angering his core base of supporters, no matter what he says or does. To avoid that fate, they have swallowed hard and sought to appease Trump and MAGA by falling in line. But now might be a good time to rethink that strategy.
A bit of advice to those who want to win in the midterm elections: Appeasement is not a good strategy.
Clearly, the war with Iran is not going as planned, if it was planned at all. More than a dozen American men and women in uniform have died, and hundreds have been wounded in combat. A school in Iran suffered a direct hit, killing more than 175, most of them children. Gas prices have risen sharply, by nearly $1 a gallon. Airline executives are predicting higher fares this summer due to a rise in jet fuel. Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz remains clogged. Among Trump’s latest ideas is to bomb Iran’s power plants, a violation of the Geneva conventions.
Really, Republicans? This is what you plan to appease?
Republicans own President Trump's rhetoric
By the way, these aren’t the only headwinds facing voters (and Republican candidates) this election year.
The price of coffee has risen up to 50% since Trump took office. The New York Times reports that the average monthly new car payment reached $774 in January, and the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rate has jumped nearly half a percentage point since the war began. All of the Epstein files have still not been released, despite court orders to do so. Plus, pack your patience if you are heading to the airport during this partial government shutdown. While Transportation Security Administration agents are now getting paid after Trump's executive order to fund the agency, staff shortages remain and security checkpoints lines can still be longer than usual.
Really, Republicans? This is what you plan to appease?
And it’s not just Trump’s policies; those in the GOP who claim that Trump is right about everything will have to answer for his character, too.
For example, longtime public servant Robert Mueller III recently passed away. Mueller volunteered to serve in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. He was wounded in combat and was awarded the Purple Heart. Mueller prosecuted Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega as well as those who bombed a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 people onboard and 11 Scots on the ground. He served as head of the FBI. A war hero, a public servant, a patriot.
When hearing the news of Mueller’s death, Trump posted on Truth Social: “Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people.”
Really, Republicans? This is what you plan to appease?
On March 21, in the Oval Office, Trump likened the U.S. attack on Iran to Japan’s assault on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, when more than 2,400 Americans died. “A date which will live in infamy,” thundered President Franklin Roosevelt. Which begs the question, what else did Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan do during World War II that Trump might want the United States to imitate?
Really, Republicans? This is what you plan to appease?
Because if you don’t oppose this, then you own this.
Appeasement failed before, and it will again
In 1940, British forces were defeated in Norway. In response to this cataclysmic turn of events, a Conservative member of Parliament, Leo Amery, rose and addressed these words to his fellow Conservative, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain: “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. In the name of God, go!”
Trump may not be going anywhere any time soon. But Republican members of Congress and those seeking public office are free to stop appeasing him – free to chart a new political course, free to be touched by “the better angels of our nature,” free to follow the Constitution and “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”
Appeasement did not work in the 1940s. Appeasement won’t work for Republicans in 2026, either.
Rusty Hills is a past chair of the Michigan Republican Party, and is a lecturer at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. This column originally appeared in the Detroit Free Press.