The results of the South Carolina Republican primary election have made one thing perfectly clear: Former President Donald Trump’s MAGA extremism has taken over the Republican Party.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley tried her hardest to spin her record and position herself as a moderate, but South Carolinians, who know Haley and her record better than anyone, didn’t buy what she was selling. In the end, given the choice between MAGA 1.0 and MAGA 2.0, the extreme GOP fell in line behind the original.
Nikki Haley tried her hardest to spin her record and position herself as a moderate, but South Carolinians, who know Haley and her record better than anyone, didn’t buy what she was selling.
But the GOP’s embrace of extremism doesn’t start or end with Haley’s loss in our home state. At every turn, when Republican officials have had the opportunity to stand up and speak out against Trump’s extremism, too many have instead kissed the ring and declared their unwavering support for his unpopular agenda. Now, they’re heading into the high-stakes 2024 election with that same losing agenda headlining the ticket — and it will cost Republicans up and down the ballot with swing voters who want nothing to do with their off-the-rails extremism.
We’re seeing the consequences of MAGA Republicans’ cruel vision for America unfold in real time. This past week, Americans watched as the Alabama Supreme Court ruled to restrict access to in vitro fertilization for thousands of families. This follows abortion bans that have been instituted all across the country, as well as the majority of House Republicans backing a bill that could rip away access to IVF. Make no mistake: These attacks on personal freedoms are the direct result of Trump. But don’t take my word for it — he openly brags about being the reason that millions of women lost the freedom to make their own health care decisions, and there’s no saying he will stop until women across America are living under a national abortion ban.
We’re also seeing the MAGA chaos take hold of Republicans in Congress. Despite months of empty platitudes about securing the border, congressional Republicans fell in line when Trump demanded they block the bipartisan deal to strengthen border security. When Trump continued to claim that the 2020 election was stolen, Republicans didn’t just keep their mouths shut; they beat the drum even louder, no matter the cost to our democracy.
Trump has told us himself that, if elected again, he would be a dictator on day one. And he will support dictators around the world on day two, undermining democracy at home and abroad. He’s embraced a national abortion ban, and his allies are plotting to restrict access to birth control. His role in the overturning of Roe v. Wade paved the way for the extreme Alabama Supreme Court ruling that cut off access to IVF. No Truth Social post can change that fact.
And voters won’t forget. Just like Republicans can’t run from their record on IVF, they can’t run from their support for a national abortion ban, their records of election denial, their cuts to Social Security and Medicare or their tax giveaways to the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.
Meanwhile, the split screen couldn’t be any clearer. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been delivering real wins on the issues Americans care about: rebuilding our roads and bridges, bringing high-speed broadband to rural communities, capping prescription drug costs and taking on Big Pharma, creating a manufacturing boom in the U.S. and passing bipartisan gun safety legislation to keep our communities safe. They are running to protect our freedoms, strengthen our democracy, and grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up. Their record is as historic as it is popular — and not just with Democrats, but also with voters of all backgrounds and walks of life who want to move our country forward, not backward.
Again and again, the American people have shown they’ve had enough of the anti-democratic, anti-freedom MAGA agenda. While Trump marches his party forward behind his deeply unpopular agenda of undermining our freedoms, eroding our democracy and rigging our economy for his wealthy donors, Democrats are investing in communities that have often been forgotten and left behind. We are putting in the work early to make sure that come November, voters know just what’s at stake. Elections don’t lie. Again and again, the American people have shown that they’ve had enough of the anti-democratic, anti-freedom MAGA agenda. It’s why Trump and MAGA Republicans lost in 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023, and it’s why I’m convinced they will lose once again in 2024. As DNC chair, I’m on the ground in swing states. I’m speaking with independents, reasonable Republicans and general election voters, and I hear their message loud and clear: The American people don’t want to see the return of someone in the White House who will take away their rights and freedoms. They don’t want a leader who is running a campaign built on revenge and retribution. They don’t want a president who will put his ultrawealthy friends first and the American people last. And with Trump all but certain to lead the GOP ticket, the entire Republican Party, up and down the ballot, will be tied to the same extreme MAGA agenda that has cost them election after election since 2018. The American people know that under a Trump second term, our rights will be ripped away and hardworking American families will be pushed to the side. They know that Trump will be a friend of dictators and an enemy of democracy. And, thanks to the chaos coming from the MAGA House majority, they know that electing Republicans down ballot means electing politicians who would rather serve Trump than their own constituents. Democrats will spend the next nine months reminding them just how high those stakes are this November.
Jaime Harrison
Jaime Harrison currently serves as the chair of the Democratic National Committee. In 2013, Harrison was elected the first African American chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, a position he held until 2017. 
