Are there millions of former McCain-Romney Republicans out there itching to vote for Democrats in November? According to Rahm Emanuel, the former Obama White House chief of staff and Chicago mayor, the answer is a resounding “yes”. In a Wall Street Journal editorial published this week, Emanuel claimed that more than 25% of “non-MAGA Republicans” would prefer Democratic control of Congress.

How times change. Today Romney may be the Democrats’ poster boy for a “good Republican”, but back in 2012, when he ran against Emanuel’s old boss, things were very different. In those days he was a “vulture capitalist”, a Fifties-style patriarch with “binders full of women”, a moral monster who once tied his dog to the roof of his car. As for John McCain, an actual war hero, when he ran against Obama he was characterised as a warmonger — and much, much too old.

Of course, in the Trump era they have been retconned in the Democrat imagination as decent, honest men. And if they were good men, then their supporters must be good people too; it therefore follows that they must be closet Democrats.

And yet, Romney himself, for all his disdain for Trump, has never crossed that line. In 2024 he explicitly refused to endorse Kamala Harris. That same year, McCain’s daughter Meghan poured scorn on Kamala Harris’ claim that her father John McCain told her: “Kid, come over here. You’re going to make a great Senator.”

As for those prominent Republicans who have crossed the Rubicon, their track record of inspiring voters to follow suit is less than impressive. Democrats and their media stenographers certainly got very excited when Liz Cheney, fresh from losing her primary, endorsed Harris, but few others did. Meanwhile, Bill Kristol’s journey from Reagan-era social conservative to pro-abortion, pro-trans Democrat may be moderately interesting from a psychological point of view (not really), but his influence is confined to riling up his fellow never-Trumpers for clicks.

In his Wall Street Journal article, Emanuel mentions a handful of Republicans who have switched sides in Florida and Kansas. But perhaps the highest-profile Republican to turn blue so far has been Neil Bush, a third-tier member of the Bush dynasty, who cast his vote for James Talarico over Ken Paxton. Neil Bush is primarily known for a failed business venture, and his claim, during his 2003 divorce proceedings, that he did not know if the attractive ladies who came to his hotel room while he was on business in Asia, and with whom he then had sex, were prostitutes.

What version of the Democratic Party, then, does Emanuel propose that Republicans should vote for? McCain-Romney Republicans may regard Trump as an appalling individual, but are they really going to support DSA candidates, or turn out for the likes of Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, or throw their weight behind California-style mismanagement for the rest of the country?

In fact, Emanuel has an answer. Succeeding in the midterms is only the first step; instead of pushing further Leftward and pursuing “venomous hearings”, Democrats must move to the centre if they are to win in 2028. He lists policies Democrats ought to pursue, such as tackling the cost-of-living crisis, banning stock trading among elected officials, and raising the federal minimum wage. However, in light of Elissa Slotkin’s comments about pursuing prosecutions of administration officials, there is something almost poignant about Emanuel’s wishes. Should Democrats win control of Congress next month, vengeance shall most certainly be the order of the day. Still, a man can dream, can’t he?

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Daniel Kalder is an author based in Texas. Previously, he spent ten years living in the former Soviet bloc. His latest book, Dictator Literature, is published by Oneworld. He also writes on Substack: Thus Spake Daniel Kalder.

DanielKalder

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