{"id":360,"date":"2026-05-24T12:05:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T12:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=360"},"modified":"2026-05-24T12:05:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T12:05:34","slug":"inside-one-southern-republicans-defiant-stand-against-donald-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=360","title":{"rendered":"Inside one southern Republican’s defiant stand against Donald Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Pondering our nation\u2019s upcoming Memorial Day, it\u2019s hard not to get emotional. I still get a lump in my throat when we stand for the national anthem at Bears home games<\/u>. I fidget, look down, or look away so people don\u2019t see my tears and think I\u2019m loopy. But when I hear \u2018perilous fight,\u2019 and \u2018proof through the night\u2019 I really do see the old yellowed flag<\/u>: 15 stars and stripes<\/u>, tattered and frayed, still standing against all odds<\/u> for a new freedom the world had never heard of. <\/p>\n

Read more Why Trump\u2019s \u2018flood the zone\u2019 strategy is working<\/a><\/p>\n

We were founded on a novel concept of liberty<\/u> never before articulated: an intangible, deeply profound declaration that all men were created equal, endowed with the same right to pursue happiness. Not because those rights were bestowed by a king, but because people were born with them. They were inalienable. <\/p>\n

Five hundred days<\/u> into this administration, sensing the precarity of those rights, seeing the momentum of attempts to erase them,<\/u> guts me. Not because we\u2019re exceptional, not because we reached our goals. We never did, and we\u2019ve recently<\/u> begun marching so determinedly backward<\/u> it\u2019s easy to feel helpless, despondent, even. Then suddenly, and unexpectedly, I hear the song sung from an unexpected voice, and there\u2019s that tattered flag again, still standing. <\/p>\n

A light through the night from the right<\/strong><\/p>\n

On May 12, 2026, South Carolina State Senator Shane Massey made a singularly impassioned argument<\/u> about why we are, and what we stand for. He is a Republican.<\/p>\n

Massey took to the floor to reject Trump\u2019s demand that South Carolina gerrymander itself so that, despite being having a statewide population that is 26% black<\/u>, no black member of Congress can ever get elected again. South Carolina, a slaveholding state, has sent only one Black Democratic representative to Congress since 1897<\/u>: James Clyburn. <\/p>\n

Massey spoke of the evils of permanently silencing Clyburn, the citizens who elected him, and an entire opposing political party just because an ethically compromised Supreme Court, with a wink to their corporate backers, . In a 45-minute address at the state\u2019s capital, Massey rejected Trump\u2019s redraw of SC\u2019s congressional map<\/u> and instead embraced American pluralism, now all but forgotten as Republicans do an about face on states rights<\/u> to serve an unschooled master<\/u>. <\/p>\n

A Republican sees the peril of uni-party rule<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, Massey reminded his colleagues that our system was designed to divide power not only between the three branches of the federal government, but also, crucially, between the federal government and sovereign states. <\/p>\n

Massey said Trump should not try to dominate the federal government to the exclusion of the judicial and legislative branches, and should respect the federal\/state division of power<\/u> as well. \u201cThe separation of powers may actually be the most important governmental doctrine that has been created in the history of man,\u201d Massey said, astutely. \u201cIt is that important. And what the Congress has done to relinquish their authority to the executive<\/u> is terrible. And we all see the results of that.\u201d He didn\u2019t say \u201cabuse of power,\u201d \u201cdespot,\u201d or \u201ccorruption,\u201d because he didn\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n

Instead, Massey stressed the founders\u2019 \u201cbrilliant creation of federalism and the sovereignty of the states,\u201d and said he didn\u2019t want to participate in eroding federalism or<\/em><\/em> diminishing the essential role of states. It\u2019s obvious that Trump is destroying the federal government, but no republican before Massey has publicly acknowledged that he\u2019s also trying to erase state boundaries and state authority, the very basis of federalism<\/u>.<\/p>\n

Read more What created Trump\u2019s base is no reason to give his supporters a pass<\/a><\/p>\n

Healthy opponents make us stronger<\/strong><\/p>\n

Massey also recognized a fundamental human dynamic, a principle self-evident in free markets, commerce, education, scientific achievement, sports, and most realms of human performance: competition makes us stronger. He argued that Republicans should not seek to destroy Democrats just because they can, because the Democratic party makes Republicans stronger. In a truth rarely spoken by any politician, Massey declared<\/u>, \u201cI will tell my Republican friends: Republicans are stronger when the Democrat Party is vibrant and viable. We are. Competition makes you better, y\u2019all.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a message for all factions. Healthy political parties make each other better. Without an effective opponent, they turn on each other. They infight. They lose the incentive to address what they were elected to address, to fix what they came to fix, and instead focus on how best to stay in power. <\/p>\n

Specifically, Massey said, when facing criticism and accountability from democrats, republicans rise to the challenge because they have to. He boldly suggested that Republicans should stop and assess why<\/em><\/em> they can\u2019t now win a popular election without first rigging it<\/u>. One-party rule, demanded by a corrupt executive<\/u> and enabled by a partisan high court serving the same corporate masters<\/u>, fosters mediocrity instead of competition.<\/p>\n

The fading flag still waves in the South<\/strong><\/p>\n

Finally, Massey reminded the SC Senate that our nation \u2014 the most powerful in the world \u2014 cannot be conquered by an external foe, but it surely will destroy itself if it abandons the very principles and values it was founded on. \u201cMaybe we become convinced that the only way to preserve the Republic is to implement policies that are contrary to the founding ideas of the Republic,\u201d he mused. \u201cMaybe we turn on ourselves. Maybe 250 years in,\u201d (he said, triggering the lump in my own throat again), \u201cwe will no longer be able to keep our Republic<\/u>.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then, Massey did something extraordinary: He told Trump and his colleagues \u2018No.\u2019 \u201cIf we\u2019re going to lose this radical idea of a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, a nation that in its Constitution guarantees to each state a republican form of government to ensure the debate of ideas \u2014 if that\u2019s going to happen, Mr. President, by God, it\u2019s not going to be because I surrendered it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m voting no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Massey\u2019s words ultimately did not carry the day<\/u>, but they declared that the principles of the American Revolution set forth in our Declaration of Independence remain. Trump is doing his best to kill them, and he may succeed for a while as an exhausted<\/u> public looks away<\/u>. But Massey\u2019s words proved that somewhere, in the night, even in the darkest and deepest south, we will see the flag again. <\/p>\n

Sabrina Haake is an opinion columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. She writes the free Substack, The Haake Take.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Americans are suffering a hidden \u2018depression\u2019 and economic hell in 2020 \u2014 and it could get even worse: report<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A light through the night from the right<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nInside one southern Republican's defiant stand against Donald Trump - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=360\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inside one southern Republican's defiant stand against Donald Trump - Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A light through the night from the right\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=360\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-24T12:05:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=360#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=360\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3\"},\"headline\":\"Inside one southern Republican’s defiant stand against Donald Trump\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-24T12:05:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=360\"},\"wordCount\":1136,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=360#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/551ba6cfda7779e5a59b3dcc64252664.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=360#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=360\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=360\",\"name\":\"Inside one southern Republican's defiant stand against Donald Trump - 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