On Politics: Hawaii Republican Party, already weakened, gets destroyed by Trumpism and extremism

If there is any political relevance left to Hawaii’s Republican Party, Donald Trump and the storming of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters last week destroyed it.

Since his defeat, Trump repeatedly insisted that his overwhelming election loss (81,283,098 to 74,222,958 in the popular vote) was the result of fraud, chicanery and theft. His false attacks culminated with him urging his supporters to march to the Capitol, which they then invaded and sacked. It was mob violence egged on by the president still bitter about his election fate.

His national legacy is one of impeachment, incompetence in office and mob rule. In Hawaii, Trump brought nothing to the ticket or party; he drew more votes in 2020 than in 2016, but lost the state both times to Hillary Clinton and then Joe Biden.

Still his reverberations will continue to damage local GOP credibility. Reports last week found that Nick Ochs, founder of “Proud Boys Hawaii,” a far right extremist group and a Trump supporter who ran for the state House representing Waikiki as a Republican, was one of those who invaded the U.S. Capitol. He he told CNN, though, that he was working as a “professional journalist” and did not enter any of the offices or the chambers. Ochs was featured on the Hawaii GOP web page, although he did not receive any contributions from the local party and lost resoundingly to Democrat Adrian Tam.

Providing a home for candidates like Ochs is one of the Hawaii GOP’s many problems.

“I think Nick Ochs was emblematic of the effect Trump has had on the local GOP. Even after his sexist, homophobic and racist remarks came to light, the HRP continued to support him,” said Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, Hawaii Democratic Party chairman, in an interview.

The Hawaii GOP did not respond to queries for comment on the election.

The local GOP needs to find moderation if it is to be successful, Dos Santos-Tam said. “Perhaps if there is a cleaving within the national GOP between the Trump faction and the anti-Trump faction, I hope the sensible anti-Trump folks will win out here in Hawaii.”

Colin Moore, director of the University of Hawaii Public Policy Center, said there is little room for the GOP to maneuver.

“It’s hard for me to imagine how things could get worse for the local GOP, but this may have done it,” Moore said.

The problem is that with Trump still holding the GOP flag, there really is no room for the hoped-for moderation.

“It means that they cannot carve out a moderate brand that appeals to local voters,” Moore said.

“Local voters now associate the Hawaii GOP with Trump and not with skilled centrists like Linda Lingle, who showed for a brief period that Hawaii could have a true two-party system,” Moore said.

“Our local Republican Party has entered a political death spiral. There are fewer moderates in the party, so its policies are increasingly defined by more radical elements, leading to even more defections from moderates,” Moore warned.

From the resignations in disgrace of Vice President Spiro Agnew and President Richard Nixon in the 1970s, the Hawaii GOP has faced its own brand of losing discredit. But, it now faces not disinterest but simple extinguishment.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.