It is commonly held that some Republicans do not have a strong commitment to the party and its principles. Senator Mitt Romney of Utah comes to mind. There are others, like the Lincoln Project, who actively work for the opposition. The RINO label fits them well. But, given what should, or at least traditional has, constituted a Republican, there are other heretics we should look for in our ranks.
Republicans are traditionally free traders, knowing global commerce is good for all. Ronald Reagan certainly was one. So perhaps we should be suspicious of protectionist RINOs in our ranks.
Republicans are adult realists who prefer facts to fantasy and thus don’t believe in banshees, hobgoblins, the New World order conspiracy, the pizzagate conspiracy, unicorns, the satanic cannibal pedophile conspiracy, the Wayfair conspiracy, baying at the moon, the Queen of England dope dealer/lizard conspiracy, the Atomic Mole Men, Nazis in the caves of the Antarctic, and any other belief system that shows the believer to be, shall we say, beyond the pale.
The party supports the free market and free enterprise. So those who would punish private firms for unpopular views aren’t Republicans, right?
The Republican Party is for representative government, not mob rule. Many Republican presidents have stood up against mobs. Dwight Eisenhower did in Little Rock, Ronald Reagan did at California universities, Richard Nixon stood against antiwar thugs. So mob incitement is definitely not a facet of the Republican Party. Definitely RINO.
The Republican Party was founded on a revulsion against slavery. So those carrying Confederate flags inside the corridors of power can hardly call themselves Republicans. Totally RINO.
The Republican Party is the de facto conservative party in America. Conservatives, as opposed to the Left, are rational individuals driven by facts and empirical evidence. So thus no conservative would put any credence in people who guaranteed overturned election results when those results failed to materialize. Only RINOs would do that, as Republicans are smarter than that.
Members of the Republican Party have a commitment to the democratic process. Thus none in good standing would call for martial law or a military run election unless all other options were off the table and even then, would not do it to merely enhance a political narrative. Yup, not a very Republican thing to do.
Now while we need the largest tent possible to win elections, we need to also see how those who call themselves our own can lead us down wrong roads. The Democrats were in the same situation in the late 1940s. Actual communists, not AOC Fisher-Price communists, but actual members of the communist party had infiltrated their ranks. So had Soviet spies, some at the highest levels.
In fact, their recent 1941-1945 veep, Henry Wallace, was a suspected Soviet agent of influence. So what did Harry Truman and sane Democrats do? They rooted out the communists from the administration and the party. In 1948 Wallace ran against Truman as a Progressive. Truman won. Not that all Democrats became anti-communist, but the leadership and most of the rank and file were.
Perhaps it’s time in the Republican Party to root out the real RINOs. Maybe a nice purge of some who belong in a populist party is long overdue. Because a party divided against itself, like a house, cannot stand.