The New York Times, always ready to help the elites, gives OpEd space to Republicans of the past.

We Are Republicans With a Plea: Elect Democrats in 2022

By Miles Taylor and Christine Todd Whitman^[1]Miles Taylor (@MilesTaylorUSA) served at the Department of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019, including as chief of staff, and was the anonymous author of a 2018 guest essay for The Times … Continue reading | Monday, October 11, 2021 | 5:00 AM EDT

After Donald Trump’s defeat, there was a measure of hope among Republicans who opposed him that control of the G.O.P. would be up for grabs, and that conservative pragmatists could take back the party. But it’s become obvious that political extremists maintain a viselike grip on the national G.O.P., the state parties and the process for fielding and championing House and Senate candidates in next year’s elections.

Rational Republicans are losing the G.O.P. civil war. And the only near-term way to battle pro-Trump extremists is for all of us to team up on key races and overarching political goals with our longtime political opponents: the Democratic Party.

Earlier this year we joined more than 150 conservatives — including former governors, senators, congressmen, cabinet secretaries, and party leaders — in calling for the Republican Party to divorce itself from Trumpism or else lose our support, perhaps by forming a new political party. Rather than return to founding ideals, G.O.P. leaders in the House and in many states have now turned belief in conspiracy theories and lies about stolen elections into a litmus test for membership and running for office.

Breaking away from the G.O.P. and starting a new center-right party may prove in time to be the last resort if Trump-backed candidates continue to win Republican primaries. We and our allies have debated the option of starting a new party for months and will continue to explore its viability in the long run. Unfortunately, history is littered with examples of failed attempts at breaking the two-party system, and in most states today the laws do not lend themselves easily to the creation and success of third parties.

There’s more at the original, but in the fourth paragraph, Mr Taylor and Mrs Whitman admit the real problem about which they complained in their third. “Rather than return to founding ideals, G.O.P. leaders in the House and in many states have now turned belief in conspiracy theories and lies about stolen elections into a litmus test for membership and running for office,” they complained, but they next lamented that “Trump-backed candidates continue to win Republican primaries.” Their real problem? The plebeians are simply not voting the way the Patricians tell them they must.

Populism is a name for a kind of political movement. Populists usually try to make a difference between common people and “elites” (meaning usually, top classes of people) . Populists may think of wealthy people or well-educated people as belonging to the class of elites. Populists may also call those who have been working in government for a long time “establishment” and count them as elites too.

According to Wikipedia, Miles Taylor, net worth roughly $2,000,000:

grew up in La Porte, Indiana, where he was an Indiana state debate champion, and graduated valedictorian from La Porte High School in 2006. While in high school, he served as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. He received a Bachelor of Arts in international security studies from Indiana University Bloomington, which he attended as a Harry S. Truman Scholar and Herman B. Wells Scholar. As a senior, he received IU’s inaugural Presidential Student Internship and was a recipient of the Elvis J. Stahr Award given to the university’s top few graduating seniors. Taylor received an MPhil in International Relations from New College, Oxford, which he attended as a 2012 Marshall Scholar.

Clearly, Mr Taylor, who is only 33 years old, grew up with some privilege. As for the description of him as a “lifelong Republican,” Mr Taylor donated $85, “when (he) was a completely broke college student”, to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama. His ‘explanation’ of that is completely disingenuous:

I’m proud that I spent that $85 because even though I was gunning for John McCain, and John McCain’s been a lifelong personal hero of mine, I wanted to be able to tell my kids that if Barack Obama got elected president, that in some way I supported the first Black president of the United States. Of course, I knew I was going to oppose him on policy issues, and I did that. I was a big McCain supporter.

Oh, good grief! That’s an explanation?^[2]Full disclosure: in 2008, I switched my party registration from Republican to Democrat, so I could vote in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary against the odious Hillary Clinton. That meant, alas!, … Continue reading

According to Wikipedia, Mrs Whitman, net worth at least $9,470,000:

born Christine Temple Todd in New York City, the daughter of Eleanor Prentice Todd (née Schley) and businessman Webster B. Todd. Her parents were involved in Republican politics,] and both the Todds and the Schleys were wealthy and prominent New Jersey political families. Her mother’s family were among the first New Yorkers to move to what became Far Hills, New Jersey, which became a popular suburb for wealthy, moderate Republicans. Her maternal grandfather, Reeve Schley, was a member of Wolf’s Head Society at Yale and the vice president of Chase Bank. He was also a longtime president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce. Christine’s father amassed a fortune from working as a building contractor on projects including Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall. Webster used his wealth to donate to Republican politicians, and became an advisor to Dwight D. Eisenhower. Her mother Eleanor served as a Republican national committeewoman and led the New Jersey Federation of Republican Women.

Yeah, that’s a pretty Patrician background, too. Worrying about having food on the table at suppertime was not one of her problems.

For Mr Taylor and Mrs Whitman, the problem is simple: they consider themselves to be leaders of the Republican Party, but Republican voters do not seem to be willing to follow where they would lead. Their complaint that Republican “leaders in the House and in many states” are going along with “Trumpism” is a complaint that elected Republicans are going along with what their constituents want. What, the elected leadership, following the wishes of those who voted for them? Heaven forfend!

Mr Taylor and Mrs Whitman want to get rid of the influence of former President Trump, and to do that, they are urging people to vote for Democrats. But voting for Democrats has a real cost: it puts Democrats in office, and that means pushing the Democrats’ policies. Sunday’s headline in The Washington Post said, “Liberal Democrats have become the mainstream of the party and less willing to compromise with dwindling moderates.” Even the (purported) moderates in the House are going along with the socialists’ progressives’ plans, if only slightly nibbling at the edges, and only Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) are preventing a massive, ‘progressive’ plan from being passed. Elect more Democrats, and a bill festooned with benefits for unions and welfare for the well-to-do get passed. The authors would accept ‘progressive’ policies which would seriously damage our republic, grant greater opportunities for fraudulent voting, destroy all state restrictions on abortion as well as having the taxpayers pay for abortions, and destroy our economy just to get rid of the influence of a 75-year-old man who eats absolute junk.

I have news for them: even if Donald Trump dropped dead today, the populist voters he has energized will still vote for Republican primary candidates who espouse policies similar to his.

Mrs Whitman and Mr Taylor wrote about, as a “last resort,” “starting a new center-right party.” This is where they truly fail: Republican voters tired of a “center-right” party under the younger President Bush, and rejected a “center-right” party not only under the other presidential candidates during the 2016 primaries, but in the TEA Party revolt of 2010 and Republican primaries subsequent to that. They want a truly conservative party, not a ‘moderate’ — moderate meaning: caving in to the left on too many issues, the old go-along-to-get-along Republican Party under Hugh Scott and Everett Dirksen — one.

For disaffected Republicans, this means an openness to backing centrist Democrats. It will be difficult for lifelong G.O.P. members to do this — akin to rooting for the other team out of fear that your own is ruining the sport entirely — but democracy is not a game, which is why when push comes to shove, patriotic conservatives should put country over party.

The most important vote that any member of Congress casts is his first of the session, the one which sets the majority control of the chamber. It matters not how ‘centrist’ a particular Democrat is, if he is going to be voting for someone like Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer to control the chamber, his vote is for the devastation of all that conservatives hold dear, a vote for enacting the agenda that the Post called to now be the “mainstream” of the Democratic Party. That is very much the wrong thing to do.