That Mark Sanford could now seem heroic does not say much for the state of the Republican Party
is more synonymous with rebellion than Charleston harbour, where Mark Sanford launched his tilt at President Donald Trump this week. Glinting in the sun behind the veteran Republican—a two-term governor of South Carolina and five-term congressman—was Fort Sumter, target of the Confederacy’s first shots. Farther off, a blur on the horizon, was Fort Johnson, where South Carolina’s state flag was first raised in defiance during the revolutionary war.
The three state-wide rallies Mr Sanford held that day were attended by a few journalists and fewer bystanders. South Carolinians have little reason to notice his campaign. The state’s Republicans, along with those in Arizona, Kansas and Nevada, have already said they will not hold a presidential primary. The Republican National Committee, which has dissolved its primary debate committee, is pressing others to follow suit.
He says his refusal to genuflect was indirectly a result of his humiliation. “I owed it to the people who gave me a second chance to shoot straight down the middle.” His disgrace might even be a political advantage, he thinks: “There’s almost an added element of relatability that comes with public failure.” His wrongdoing certainly made him more famous. Compared with some of the things Mr Trump stands accused of, it also looks less serious now.
The debate Mr Sanford called is worth having, too. While he glumly acknowledges how most Republicans have cheered as Mr Trump abandoned free trade and fiscal restraint, the former governor clings to a hope that this shift will be temporary: “For 25 years I’ve been out there talking to people, and the central premise of this campaign is that all those conversations about the debt and spending issue were real.
In truth, there was never much evidence that Republicans cared about the deficit . Yet Mr Sanford is probably right that Mr Trump has not changed their thinking for good on other issues. History suggests relatively few voters care about trade, the president’s obsession, for example. And as Mr Trump’s hold on power is less firm than his hold on his party, this points to a great uncertainty about what Republicans will stand for post-Trump. In some ways the party may snap back.
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