Joe Henderson: Republicans have an opportunity for a course correction

Image via AP.

Republicans have an opportunity if enough of them are willing to recognize and seize the moment.

Forget the paranoid ramblings that the election was “stolen” by, well, somebody who hates America because THEY don’t think as WE do. Republicans today should listen to what a significant majority of Americans just told them.

Voters rejected the lies and race-baiting. Many stood for hours in lines outside polling places to vote for something different. Donald Trump’s constant mockery of anyone who didn’t agree with him wore people out.

They laugh at Republicans’ constant dark conspiracies.

Indeed, a global chorus joined in celebration when Joe Biden was declared the winner.

There is a way forward for Republicans, though. Look at Biden’s inclusive message for everyone, including those who voted against him. That resonated deeply because voters demand a time when different ideas weren’t mocked and attacked. People are exhausted with the red state, blue state garbage.

COVID-19 shook this nation to its core and by Nov. 3 no one bought Trump’s fantasy that relief is around the corner. More people trust science and Dr. Anthony Fauci than Trump.

Fauci tells them the truth.

Trump doesn’t.

America will listen to a Republican who liberates the Party from the alternative universe where it now resides. So far, most of the top GOP voices have been either silent or complicit in promoting alleged election fraud.

Biden proved that a good majority of Americans reside in the middle. They’ll vote red for this idea, and blue for that one. They want good schools, clean air, and water. Safety, security, and sanity.

About 75 million voters decided Trump and Republicans couldn’t – or wouldn’t – deliver those things to everyone. They didn’t even try. He talked about locking up political enemies, which is what they do in North Korea.

Trump thrived on paranoia, fear, and, most of all, exclusion.

It was always about the base and no one else.

Such a system cannot endure.

So, here’s your shot, Republicans.

Don’t go down the rabbit hole with agents of conflict like former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Bondi said on Fox & Friends, “I’m here right now, and we are not going anywhere until they declare that we’ve won Pennsylvania.”

She said there was “cheating” there but offered no proof.

Bondi has been in courtrooms long enough to know that judges and juries value facts over friction.

Now, think about this: If there was evidence of cheating on the scale Republicans claim, they would have spelled it out loud and in detail.

So far, they’ve just been loud. They are no more convincing now than they were with the smear campaign before the election about mail-in ballots.

Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Republicans find themselves there now.

In picking Biden, Americans chose comfort over chaos. Many of the older voters may look back on the Ronald Reagan era with a wistful sigh, wishing something like it would return.

Since Reagan isn’t coming back, they went with Biden. For the right candidate, they may return to the fold in four years.

Biden said this election was a battle for the soul of America, and he was correct.

Trump received more than 70 million votes, but I wonder how many of those folks really approve of what their Party has become. There must be someone in GOP ranks who can restore traditional Republican conservatism without the paranoia, bullying, and racism associated with Trump’s reign.

If not, this won’t be the last time America tunes them out.