Joseph Sabino Mistick: No need for GOP autopsy — the lessons are obvious

The headlines that appeared last week after Republican Herschel Walker lost the Georgia runoff election to incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael G. Warnock struck a common theme. The Washington Post said Walker’s defeat “spurs new GOP handwringing, calls for new strategy.” As The New York Times described it, “After Georgia loss, GOP stares down its Trump dilemma.”

Both the Democratic and Republican parties have done their share of handwringing when things have gone drastically wrong. This time, there were calls by some Republican leaders for a post-election “autopsy.”

What happened to the “red wave” that the Republicans should have enjoyed, the sweep of the midterm elections that usually turns against the party that holds the White House?

A similar Republican “autopsy” took place after Mitt Romney’s unsuccessful 2012 presidential run, and it was on the money, laying out how the party could retool and stay politically competitive. They can dust that one off and not do another.

It called for the Republican Party to reach out to women, young voters and minority voters. It cited the changing demographics of the electorate and urged party leaders to support action on climate change and immigration reform. Instead, party leaders charged off in the opposite direction.

Now, they are wondering what went wrong once again. But, even without another “autopsy,” there are some obvious lessons from the past two years that Republican leaders can consider immediately.

Official recognition that women are equal to men — specifically when it comes to their own health care decisions — would be a good start. The U.S. Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade was a major factor for men and women voters, and it drove many of them to the Democratic side.

A proclamation that the 2020 presidential election was not stolen — plus the condemnation of anyone who says otherwise — would help. Tyrants destroy the people’s faith in fair elections in order to hang onto power, but in a free society, it is counterproductive. As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last week, Trump’s stolen election claims convinced some Republicans that it was pointless to vote.

Republican leaders must denounce white supremacists and anti­semites, and also denounce anyone who refuses to denounce them or even gives them the time of day. You are the party of Lincoln.

And Republicans must find a way to tackle climate change, immigration reform and commonsense gun reform. These are not partisan issues for most Americans. We all breathe the same air, we all come from families that came here from someplace else, we all are tired of the slaughter that is just around every corner.

No one has to abandon their core beliefs, but listening to the other side is a big first step toward solving our problems. The second step is finding middle ground. This will happen only if both parties want to govern, not just knock over all the furniture and trash the place.

In 2020, prior to the presidential election, NPR reported that Sally Bradshaw, a former Republican strategist and one of the 2012 Republican “autopsy” authors, called the report “an obvious failure.”

In an email to the station, she wrote, “My hope is that Trump will lose in November, Republicans will lose the Senate, and the GOP will be forced to rebuild with conservatives focused on the power of ideas.” Prescient.