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https://www.thebulwark.com/p/my-last-day-as-an-accomplice-of-the-republican-party-miles-bruner>
"SINCE DONALD TRUMP DESCENDED that golden escalator in 2015, the Republican
party has devolved into a cult of personality that mirrors the worst
authoritarian regimes of the last one hundred years.
For ten years, the GOP has waged an unrelenting war on our civic institutions,
the separation of powers, the foundation of the rule of law, and the very
nature of truth itself. While Trump and his supporters in Congress have been
the driving force behind the right’s descent into despotism, it would not have
been possible without the thousands of consultants, aides, and politicos
working behind the scenes to fully execute their systematic dismantling of
American democratic norms.
That’s why I’m publishing this letter today.
For over twelve years, I worked inside the Republican ecosystem, helping the
party advance its goals in several fields, ranging from grassroots voter
outreach to digital fundraising. I worked inside GOP circles through Trump’s
takeover of the party, his initial downfall, and his resurgence in 2023–2024.
At every step along the way, I rationalized, compartmentalized, and found
excuses to stay tethered to the party, even as I grew to believe it was
undermining the foundations of our constitutional republic. But over the last
few months, the compartmentalization and coping stopped working to silence my
conscience.
And now, after more than a decade, I have decided I have finally had enough.
I quit. I quit the Republican party and my job as an accomplice to the party in
the throes of an authoritarian cult. Today, I resigned from my career as a
senior fundraising strategist for one of the leading Republican digital
fundraising firms in Washington, D.C.
I’m not the first to take this path. A lot of ink has been spilled by former
Republican politicians and staffers about why they left the Republican party.
Tim Miller’s
Why We Did It provides a valuable perspective from the vantage
point of a political strategist at the Senate and presidential level. My
journey has been through the lower tiers of the Republican party, in
state-level campaigns and as a mid-level manager in a GOP-affiliated consulting
firm. Mine wasn’t as high a vantage point. But when it comes to understanding
the MAGA takeover, it was no less critical. It was at this level that I saw
firsthand how Trumpism, as both a cultural and political force, took hold at
the grassroots level, driving local politicians to make the thousands of
decisions and compromises that in turn enabled Trump and GOP leadership to
wedge the MAGA movement even deeper into American life.
Don’t get me wrong: My ego is not so large that I believe I played a
significant role in putting Trump into office. What I mean is that it took the
collective action of thousands of people in similar positions, working
nine-to-five jobs, figuring out how they were going to pay for their kid’s
daycare or fund their retirement, to get us where we are today. I was a part of
that—until I decided I could no longer be."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
