Former Washington State Republican Party chair Chris Vance voiced sharp criticism of former President Donald Trump on Thursday, asserting that Trump does not represent true conservative values. During an MSNBC roundtable discussion, Vance joined fellow Republican Michael Steele in challenging the current ideological direction of the GOP under Trump’s influence.
“President Donald Trump doesn’t stand for true conservative principles,” Vance said bluntly, arguing that many Republicans are deluding themselves into believing otherwise. Vance’s remarks were in response to a pointed statement by Michael Steele, the former chair of the Republican National Committee and an outspoken Trump critic.
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“I think there’s — throughout all of this, the narrative has been defined largely by Trump and MAGA about what conservatism is,” said Steele. “Folks, I’m telling you, this ain’t it. I mean, you know, the more traditional fight between liberals and conservatives in the past, over the past 30 years, has never looked anything like this.”
Vance agreed, referencing efforts by traditional conservatives to reclaim the Republican Party’s founding values. “Almost exactly a year ago, Senator John Danforth and a whole bunch of other folks, including yourself, formed Our Republican Legacy, a group to fight back against this sort of thing, to be a catalyst to bring their party back to traditional principles,” he said.
“They formed it in the middle of the campaign cycle. You know, now we’re really pumping it up and building it up. We had a huge event here in town.” One of those traditional principles, Vance said, is fiscal responsibility. “Now, our party hasn’t always been good on deficits, but they’ve at least tried,” he explained. “I mean, Ronald Reagan cut taxes, and then later realized he had to raise taxes to get the deficit under control.
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This guy is cutting revenues when we already have a massive deficit. And that is not conservatism.” Vance went further, rejecting several of Trump’s key policy positions. “Tariffs are not conservative. Abandoning our allies to Russia is not conservative,” he said, criticizing what he sees as a departure from longstanding Republican foreign and economic policy.
Still, Vance acknowledged the difficulty many within the party face. “There are so many Republicans out there who want to believe that Trump is something that he is not, that they think he’s a conservative.” The conversation highlighted the ongoing ideological struggle within the GOP, as party veterans continue efforts to reclaim the conservative identity they believe has been distorted under Trump’s leadership.
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