GOP no longer ADVERTISING GOP no longer I must state my support of Rep. Beth Fukumoto’s decision to leave the Trump Party. I know that this decision was made after much thought and self-reflection. It was extremely hard for me
GOP no longer
I must state my support of Rep. Beth Fukumoto’s decision to leave the Trump Party. I know that this decision was made after much thought and self-reflection. It was extremely hard for me to leave the party last year when Cheeto won our local primary.
Like Beth, I became a Republican with the hope that our generation could somehow reform, even reinvent, the party; breathing new life into an old, tired, platform inconsistent with the values with which we were raised. Sick of the “same-old, same-old” of the Democrats, we did our best to advocate for our party telling people around us that Hawaii needed a strong two-party system in order to prosper, to be balanced, and to be truly democratic. In all honesty, we were young and naive.
After all this time, it has become clear to me that the Grand Old Party is no longer grand, just old. The party of family values, Christian values even, has put that aside in order to gain power; supporting a racist, bigoted, narcissistic, misogynist, whose only god is himself. The party that abolished slavery, now stands by as a whole religion is being attacked by a man who has no religion, whose Bible is his checkbook.
Beth, I pray for you. I pray for Hawaii and the United States. The road ahead will be difficult for you. Like me, you may even experience “Republican withdrawals.” You may find yourself trying to over-justify your decision. You may be telling yourself that “you are a Republican at heart.” But, unfortunately, we are not. We are as Republican, as Donald Trump is a good president.
Moderates like us are not valued. Cynthia Thielen is right to say that our party is dead. Let’s face it, the party left us for Russia.
Rev. W. Keoki Kiwaha
Kealia-Hookena
