Several weeks ago, I wrote an article regarding College Republicans’ controversial decision to endorse Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. I called special attention to the fact that nearly a majority of the members voted not to endorse Trump, and I commended several individuals in particular who lead the anti-Trump charge within the organization. In the midst of one of Trump’s most disturbing controversies, where he is seen on tape in 2005 making sexually crude remarks about groping women, the College Republicans, and even the high-profile Sen. John McCain, finally revoked their endorsements. While this is a huge victory for liberal and conservative anti-Trumpers alike, this revocation should have never had to occur in the first place.
Last week, the satirical newspaper The Onion wrote a humorous yet highly relevant article about this most recent controversy. It is relevant because it implies all the GOP leaders who have recently denounced Trump are doing so because they finally, for once, feel as though his attacks are personal; after all, the woman Trump refers to in the 2005 video is someone’s daughter. Trump’s previous attacks on Muslims, Mexicans, the military and other demographics did not impact many of the GOP leaders in the same way an attack on women does, and thus, they were silently encouraging Trump’s actions by not acting.
The College Republicans are acting in a similar way. Their endorsement came in mid-September, even after some of Trump’s most vicious and inappropriate attacks. It came after Trump questioned the sacrifice of a Muslim-American soldier who was killed during the Iraq War, after Trump publicly mocked a disabled journalist at one of his rallies and after Trump categorized Mexicans as “rapists” and “criminals”; I am only naming a few of these actions because I simply do not have enough room to list all his disparagements. The point is this: College Republicans knew quite well whom they were endorsing, and although the leak of this video might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, it does not compensate for the membership’s conscious decision to endorse such a demagogue.
Although College Republicans cannot change its original decision to endorse Trump, it is commendable that the organization has taken this step toward disassociating itself with the Republican nominee. However, its position on Trump remains ambiguous moving forward. For instance, the College Republicans President Joanna Ro, a fourth-year College student, said on behalf of the board, “We would like to be very clear that we are not discouraging anyone from voting for Trump.” If College Republicans wants to truly disassociate itself from Trump, then they should not be ambiguous — they ought to discourage people from voting for him.
Is this not the purpose of withholding a political endorsement? The very rationale for an organization to make an endorsement for a candidate in the first place is to influence the voting behavior of others. Yet since they now chose not to endorse their own candidate, they should not be making remarks such as Ro’s which leave open the possibility the organization is still tacitly supporting Trump. This only detracts from the effectiveness of the endorsement revocation because it shows members still do not want to alienate the staunchly pro-Trump camp within the Republican Party. However, this is a consequence members of the organization must be willing to face if they are to adequately compensate for the fact they endorsed him prior to the video’s release.
I do not agree with College Republicans’ original endorsement. Given the appalling nature of the leaked 2005 video, I commend the organization for initiating a re-vote on his endorsement and especially their ultimate decision to revoke it. However, it should go further. It should not leave open the possibility that the organization is not firmly opposed to Trump. To really make this situation right, College Republicans must openly disassociate itself from their party’s nominee.
Jesse Berman is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at j.berman@cavalierdaily.com.
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