By Illinois Review
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy is open to attending events hosted by the grassroots base of the party, but privately, he’s expressed concern for his safety, as close allies quietly spread the word amongst the conservative base of the party, in yet another insult aimed at the grassroots – the heart and soul of the Illinois Republican Party.
“Don is a small guy,” said one close ally to Tracy in phone calls and text messages with conservatives across the state – as they tried to make a point that Tracy’s safety should be top priority if he’s going to attend any event hosted by the grassroots base of the party.
But for IL GOP officials to think for one second that Tracy should fear for his safety at a Republican-led event is absurd – and it’s a talking point that President Biden uses all the time against the MAGA-Republican base of the party – that the grassroots are a danger and a threat to democracy.
In a speech last September at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Biden used a prime time presidential address to attack the MAGA-Republican, grassroots base of the country in one of the most divisive speeches ever delivered by a US President, saying,
“There’s no question that the Republican Party of today is dominated and driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans – and that is a threat to this country.”
Biden went on to say that the MAGA base of the party “fan the flames of political violence,” saying,
“They [MAGA] promote authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights…they look at the mob that stormed the United States Capitol on January 6th, brutally attacking law enforcement – not as insurrectionists that placed a dagger at the throat of our democracy, but they look at them as patriots…”
During the December Republican State Central Committee meeting in Bolingbrook, IL GOP officials called the local police department and requested that officers be present during the meeting – fearing for their safety as over 200 grassroots activists filled the room.
When the officers arrived, many of the grassroots took photos with the officers, shook their hands and thanked them for their service to the community.
Some even walked up to them, pumping their fists, saying, “We back the blue!”
But for Tracy and his allies to express concerns for his safety is an insult – and it’s a Democratic talking point that Biden uses all the time against the MAGA-conservative grassroots base of the party.
Since the 2015 presidential campaign, the IL GOP has remained anti-Trump.
During the 2016 national GOP convention, many IL GOP leaders, including then Gov. Rauner, former Gov. Jim Edgar, US Sen. Mark Kirk and Rauner-appointed Comptroller Leslie Munger, skipped the convention because they did not support Trump.
Kirk even ran an ad that said that Trump was not “fit to be Commander in Chief.”
But the Never Trumpism doesn’t stop there.
When President Trump visited Illinois in 2018, Gov. Rauner skipped the event – choosing to attend other events across the state instead of sharing the stage with the President of the United States.
In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, IL GOP chairman Don Tracy’s family-owned business, Dot Foods – where he is an owner, donated to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden – who at the time, was running against President Trump.
On March 23rd, Tracy and the IL GOP traveled down to Naples, Florida to host a private reception featuring former US Attorney General Bill Baar, who served as AG under the George HW Bush and Donald Trump presidential administrations.
Baar remains critical of Trump, and in November, he published a scathig opinion piece in the New York Post, writing,
“Unless the rest of the party goes along with him, he will burn the whole house down by leading ‘his people’ out of the GOP. Trump’s willingness to destroy the party if he does not get his way is not based on principle, but on his own supreme narcissism. His egoism makes him unable to think of a political party as anything but an extension of himself – a cult of personality.”
Last November, House Republican leader Jim Durkin – a close ally of Tracy, announced his resignation as leader after overseeing humiliating losses during the general election – and in media interviews, Durkin attempted to place all of the blame on the 45th President of the United States Donald Trump.
“As long as we continue to say that we are the party of Trump and that we have to abide by the party principles in the platform, 100% we’re gonna continue down this path of losing.”
But pointing fingers and blaming the former President does nothing but distract from Durkin’s own leadership failures. And the failures were significant – and the election results prove it.
However, Tracy has nothing to fear with regards to his safety, but everything to fear as it relates to his reputation.
After all, the Democrats have won more races since he’s been chairman.
Let’s also not forget that Tracy ran as a Democrat in 2002 and he supported a Democrat in 2020.
And now, he’s borrowing attack lines from a Democrat President.
