Trump suddenly has a lot of political capital but is back to his old habits

Originally published in the Charlottee Observer

President Donald Trump has had an undeniably strong few weeks.

The One Big Beautiful Bill may be a fiscal train wreck and a complete betrayal of conservative principles, but the legislative accomplishment is an undeniable win. Add in a string of Supreme Court victories, a decisive military strike on Iran and the real possibility of a peace breakthrough, and this stretch becomes one of the most consequential in recent political history.

But for some reason, Trump seems allergic to political prosperity.

On trade, he’s back to his old habits — destabilizing markets with talk of a 50% tariff on imported copper and levies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.

Then there’s the Elon Musk feud.

While the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill triggered a policy disagreement, Trump’s need to punch back and his compulsion to crush political enemies likely pushed Musk to form a new political party called the America Party to compete with Republicans and Democrats alike.

Look, Musk has no visions of his new party winning the presidency. He knows third-party ballot access is a logistical nightmare, and securing electoral votes for third-party candidates is nearly impossible.

No, Musk’s America Party is about disruption. It’s Silicon Valley’s “move fast and break things” mindset unleashed on American politics. He’s trying to detonate the system.

Republicans — already fighting to defy the historical trend of the party in power losing House seats in midterm elections — should be deeply concerned about those in 2026.

Musk doesn’t need candidates to win elections to do damage. He just needs to siphon off enough disillusioned voters to tip the balance in close races — a task made easier by the fact that a lot of Americans feel politically homeless right now.

For many lifelong Republicans, MAGA has begun to feel less like a movement and more like a cult — marked by blind loyalty to Trump, where his beliefs, grievances and whims are treated as gospel. Amid this loyalty, the Constitution has been ignored, core conservative values have been discarded, and fiscal responsibility has been tossed off a cliff.

The Democrats aren’t serious either.

They have been hijacked by radical progressives, where “wokeness” is the party line. Socialists win their primaries and openly attack the very foundations of America. They champion identity politics over unity, government dependence over personal responsibility, and class warfare over expanding opportunity. It’s not a party of solutions. It’s an ideological crusade divorced from common sense.

In that vacuum, it’s easy to see how Musk could blow up the system. And while he may succeed in disrupting the political order, the country will pay the price for that chaos.

The United States of America depends on a healthy, functioning two-party system.

Our nation thrives when there is genuine competition of ideas. Without that, we risk political stagnation, growing extremism and a dangerous erosion of trust in our institutions.

It’s time for Republicans to rise up and meet that responsibility to reclaim the mantle of Ronald Reagan, when principles mattered and whose conservatism stood for enduring values.

If Republicans want to build a lasting majority and lead the country forward, the GOP must be big enough to welcome everyone who believes in freedom, opportunity and the promise of America.

You see that spirit alive in groups like Our Republican Legacy — a coalition of principled Republicans working to reclaim the party from within that held its inaugural National Committee Meeting in Washington, D.C., in May.

Spearheaded by former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, Our Republican Legacy is bringing together a distinguished list of respected conservatives - former politicians and party leaders — who believe that the surest path to an America rooted in liberty, prosperity and national strength is by returning to the GOP’s historic principles.

It’s time to forge a broader, stronger Republican Party — diverse in thought, bold in vision, and grounded in constitutional values, economic freedom, fiscal discipline and a commitment to remaining a beacon of hope for freedom loving people across the world.

This is how Republicans should lead. This is how Republicans defy the odds and retain control of Congress in the midterms. This is how we make America great again.