We want your vote, but we don’t want you: Republicans failed on diversity yet again

A year ago to the day of this past week’s midterm blowout of President Trump and his MAGA movement, The Hill published my column where I argued that “ The Republican Party needs to come to terms with its growing diversity .” One year after Trump’s unbelievable comeback, and one year before the midterms, many people warned the Republican Party not to turn against the people that took them to the White House and both houses of Congress.

Anyone could have and should have looked at which demographics pushed Trump over the edge — not just in key states, but nationally.

Plenty of people, both conservatives and liberals, pointed out that the people who came into this country weren’t Marxists, atheists, or jihadists. Neither were their kids or grandkids. In fact, most were devout Catholics, conservative Muslims, and proud Americans. They worked hard and didn’t break the law. Their kids played football, joined the military, and celebrated Thanksgiving. Most importantly, many didn’t agree with the Democrats views on race, religion, social issues, and big government.

You would have expected Republicans not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Instead, they looked with the biggest microscope you can find. Their message for the past two years to Latino, Asian, South Asian, Black, and Muslim voters was, “We want your vote, but we don’t want you.”

The level of racism leveled at people who had voted for them was beyond anything I have ever seen in my lifetime. And I have seen a lot of racism and bigotry. The most obvious was Latinos. “Come here the right way” rapidly turned into, “Any way you come here can be considered illegal if we want it to be.” Stephen Miller and his quotas to find people to deport (whether they were criminals or not) were just the tip of the iceberg. Our own government posted despicable social media content that was a mash of pro-wrestling promos and Goebbels-like propaganda.

Senators, governors, news pundits, podcasters, social media influencers all parroted the talking points that vilified conservative non-white voters. My goodness, a man running for Texas railroad commissioner posted vile racist comments against Indian Americans , and the vice president, who is married to an Indian American and has Indian American children, kept his mouth shut. There were Republicans who spoke out against it from Karl Rove to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), but they were called traitors and RINOs … for condemning racism.

In order to win in 2028, the Republicans simply don’t have to come to terms with their diversity like I mentioned a year ago. After what has transpired it will take more than that. While Republicans are worried about subpoenas, impeachments and accountability there is something else they need to do. They need to conduct a purge of their own. These so-called conservatives who have embraced the ideas of “heritage” Americans, nationalism, Christian nationalism, and fascism need to be thrown out.

William F. Buckley famously had strong conservative ideals that evolved with the times while working to keep bigots, conspiracy theorists, and outright racists from being platformed by National Review . George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney proved you could argue for socially conservative issues without resorting to bigotry and hatred.

Of course, that is easy to say. But with Trump running the show for the next two years, it probably won’t happen. Even the aforementioned vice president, who should be the poster child for an interfaith, diverse, and modern American family, will probably still try to appeal to Nick Fuentes-types instead of hard-working people in Dearborn, Mich.

Stephen Miller will still be a Grima Wormtongue in Trump’s ear, especially now that he is chief of staff. The Heritage Foundation will still push Project 2025. And the podcasters and influencers will still make money because hate pays a lot more than being normal.

But look past all those people and there are plenty of talented Republicans who see the 2024 election results and know there is a better ideal for the Republicans than MAGA. Many young people repudiated MAGA this past election. So did Latinos and other groups that found themselves on the outside of a movement that only wanted a certain type of conservative. There are plenty of Christians who finally could no longer justify voting for terrible people to protect their faith.

Hopefully out of the ashes of 2026, there will be a new Republican Party that fully embraces the message of Ronald Reagan when he left office in 1989. He said , “I think it’s fitting to leave one final thought, an observation about a country which I love. It was stated best in a letter I received not long ago. A man wrote me and said: ‘You can go to live in France, but you cannot become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Turkey or Japan, but you cannot become a German, a Turk, or a Japanese. But anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in America and become an American.’”

There are plenty of Republicans in this county, you just need to want them and not just their vote.

Joslin Joseph is a recipient of the 2025 Military Reporters and Editors award for Best Commentary / Opinion. A graduate of Harvard and Ohio State, he is a Marine veteran who served in Iraq. He currently lives in Anaheim, Calif.