OPINION: Republican guard rails needed for Trump

President Donald Trump seems to have full control of the Republican Party, and as a life-long Republican, I struggle to understand why. As a conservative, I support many of his policies, but as a Christian and as an American, I cannot ignore his autocratic approach. Here’s a partial list of his decisions since taking office that have caused deep concern.

• Minion advisers: From Secretaries Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Pete Hegseth to the growing number of Fox News correspondents, Trump has surrounded himself, not with independent-thinking advisers, but with yes-men and yes-women who execute orders without question.
• Foreign policy: Trump has insulted key European allies and has made separate threats to “take over” Canada, Greenland, Panama and even Gaza.
• Ukraine: Trump’s early, inconsistent and sometimes contradictory support for Ukraine may have emboldened Putin — an uncertainty that cost lives and undermined U.S. credibility abroad.
• Symbolism over substance: Trump ordered federal agencies to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, drawing mockery both at home and abroad. In another eyebrow-raising move, he ordered a military parade for his birthday at an estimated cost of up to $40 million.
• DOJ weaponized: In line with campaign threats, Trump has transformed the Department of Justice into the Department of Retribution.
• Pardons and violence: Trump deployed troops to “keep peace” in Los Angeles, yet he pardoned or commuted sentences for the Jan. 6 rioters, including those who assaulted police officers, praising them as patriots.
• Quid pro quo: Trump pardoned several individuals whose families made large donations to his campaign and hosted a White House dinner for top investors in his new cryptocurrency venture.
• Luxury jet: Trump accepted a jet from Qatar and plans to remodel it at an estimated cost to taxpayers of $1 billion.
• Tariff whiplash: Trump’s erratic use of tariffs — announced and reversed on a whim — has created widespread uncertainty in both the U.S. and world economies.
• DOGE chaos: Not that there wasn’t plenty of fat to trim, but the immediate and seemingly indiscriminate elimination of over 200,000 federal positions resulted in widespread disruption of many governmental services. Many agencies are now rehiring to restore critical functions.
• Budget priorities: Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” (BBB) maintains prior tax cuts for the wealthy while slashing funds for programs like Medicaid that serve vulnerable Americans.
• Executive overreach: With roughly 180 executive orders, Trump has cut congressionally authorized funding, attempted to end birthright citizenship, abused emergency powers with his tariffs and removed Senate-confirmed watchdogs — undermining the Constitution.
• Controlling the narrative: Trump still claims the 2020 election was stolen, labels negative news coverage as “fake news,” denies expert warnings that tariffs will raise prices to consumers, and says the BBB cuts deficits — though the Congressional Budget Office projects a $3 trillion increase. He even fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for an unfavorable report, and has banned unfavorable news outlets from press briefings. He is the self-proclaimed expert on, well, most everything.
• Judiciary attacks: Trump has publicly attacked judges who ruled against him — even those appointed by him or fellow Republicans — and ignored a court order in the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
• Epstein: While not a policy issue, Trump’s past behavior with women, his alarming photo ops with Epstein and his aggressive efforts to bury the story raise legitimate questions.

In closing, what alarms me most is the silence. Aside from a few dissenters on the BBB, Republicans have largely fallen into line. This isn’t just disappointing, it’s a failure of moral leadership. It’s time for Republican leaders, voters and everyday conservatives to reclaim the soul of our party — before it’s too late.