An interesting phenomenon is occurring now that Donald Trump is the president-elect. Republican-controlled states are moving even further to the right – and they aren’t waiting for Trump to arrive back at the White House. Are these red-state leaders just emboldened by the MAGA win, or is there more to this story?
Red States March Right On
Donald Trump made a spectacular comeback on Election Day 2024, taking not just the electoral vote, but the popular as well – the first time in two decades a Republican presidential candidate has done so. Since his win, GOP leaders across the nation have rushed to advance far more conservative agendas before he even takes office.
In Idaho, lawmakers are working on legislation to allow school staff to carry concealed firearms without prior approval and to make it easier for parents to sue districts in library and curriculum disputes. Oklahoma schools may soon be required to display the Ten Commandments.
Arkansas Republicans are working to create a felony offense for “vaccine harm,” making pharmaceutical companies or their executives criminally liable if their products hurt or kill people. The left, of course, is outraged about this – despite their desire to do the same for firearm companies. The difference, of course, is that they want to make firearm manufacturers criminally liable when criminals misuse their products. What lawmakers in the Natural State hope to do is hold Big Pharma accountable when their products used as directed still hurt or kill people.
Ironically, while the left calls the firearm industry the only one in America protected from legal liability when their products hurt people, the truth is gun makers can still be sued if their products malfunction and cause injury or death, just like any other industry … except for vaccine makers. The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 actually made vaccine makers immune to wrongful injury and death lawsuits – the only industry in America that is.
In Texas, Republican legislators have proposed a whole host of measures that would, in part, create a Texas border protection unit, repeal instate tuition for illegals, and require colleges to notify law enforcement if they learn a student is illegal. State police would be required to DNA test any migrant taken into custody, as well, and fingerprint and track migrant children in a database, prohibit immigrants here illegally from accessing public services, and allow Troopers to return immigrants to Mexico if they are seen entering Texas illegally.
And that’s just a few examples from around the country. There are 27 states with Republican governors – 23 of which also have GOP legislative majorities – and they’re all working toward a much redder future.
Is Trump the cause, or Another Effect?
So, are conservative governors, legislators, and attorneys general inspired and emboldened by the former president’s delayed re-election in November? In a word, yes. But is that all there is to it? In another word, no. These red-state regulators have spent the last four years – or, for those elected and appointed during the Biden administration, their entire terms thus far – fighting against one of the most progressive left federal governments in American history.
And they’ve hardly waited for Trump to win. Liberty Nation News has catalogued rightward trends throughout the Biden administration. More than half of the states in the Union now have some form of permitless concealed carry – or “constitutional carry” – and many of them passed those laws between the Trump terms. More than a dozen states either returned to their pre-Roe abortion bans or enacted new ones after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 – right in the middle of Biden’s presidency. Several states passed anti-gun-control laws, reacting to ATF rule changes and promises of more gun control to come by legislating state-level nullification of any new federal gun control laws. And, of course, Republican-controlled border states, like Texas and Florida, have been pushing back on lax federal regulations and enforcement by securing their own borders and shipping illegals off to more progressive climes.
All this was happening before Trump was re-elected. In fact, it began as soon as the Biden administration took office and got to work. Trump’s triumphant return itself is yet another effect of the leftward lurch that took place four years ago. It didn’t take long for everyday Americans to feel the negative consequences of a poorly managed Biden presidency and the progressive era it spawned. When faced with more of the same on November 5, 2024, a majority of voting Americans – more than 77 million of ’em – uttered a collective “No thanks!”
So, yes, these conservatives have been emboldened by the rise of Trump. Four years of fighting what must feel like a losing battle against a progressive federal government can wear down even the most stout-hearted warriors. But knowing that the next four years won’t be a continuation of the last, knowing that Trump and his incoming administration plan to hit the ground running, brings a rejuvenation of spirit.
