On Balance | Culture war being waged by Republicans is not winning over all Americans

Outgoing US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell summed up the ethos that his party has all but abandoned. “America is the world’s pre-eminent superpower – economically and militarily – but our influence and prosperity are facilitated by a network of partnerships,” he said last week, shortly after announcing his decision to give up his position. “The strength of these alliances rests on the credibility of the commitments we make to our friends.”

Now that the party is more aligned than ever with Moscow and Beijing in a push for populist ideological purity, Ukraine and possibly Taiwan won’t matter. As the isolationist fervour grows, the only fight left for Republicans is on the culture front.

On the judicial and legislative front, Republicans have notched up significant victories that might have seemed impossible a decade ago. A sustained effort to push the US Supreme Court to the right – secured by former president Donald Trump’s appointment of three justices during his term – led to the loss of the federal right to an abortion.

On the state level, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed what is often called the “don’t say gay” law to restrict classroom discussions about sexual orientation or gender identity. He’s also signed another law to defund diversity, equity and inclusion programmes at all state universities.

Tennessee’s House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would all but ban pride flags in its schools, but not Nazi flags. This bill may not make it to the state’s governor for passage into law, but the fact that such a regressive measure sailed through one of the state’s legislative chambers shows that Republicans wield a significant amount of political strength.