--- title: Republican Debate: Trump-Style Politics Made Me Quit the GOP description: Too much of politics today is 'us versus them' canonical: https://time.com/4087749/republican-debate-donald-trump-politics/ author: Jimmy LaSalvia article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-29T14:53:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:05:12.748Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Trump-Style Politics Made Me Quit the GOP og:description: Too much of politics today is 'us versus them' og:url: https://time.com/4087749/republican-debate-donald-trump-politics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt971d890338ac4588/69886e66428a9e3ce5ccfce8/jimmy-and-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Donald Trump and Jimmy LaSalvia at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC, on Feb. 10, 2011. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump-Style Politics Made Me Quit the GOP twitter:description: Too much of politics today is 'us versus them' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt971d890338ac4588/69886e66428a9e3ce5ccfce8/jimmy-and-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump-Style Politics Made Me Quit the GOP > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=22a90f5b-b370-49bc-b4b6-3dc67b2fcf4d&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Subscribers | 430,000 | TIME, August 2026 | | Open rate | 50.7% | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Sam Jacobs, Editor-in-Chief | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership Globally minded knowledge seekers. Readers who turn to journalism to understand the world, with meaningful concentrations among educators, students, media professionals, civic institutions and knowledge workers. ### TIME Inside TIME: key statements * Inside TIME is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * Inside TIME is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=22a90f5b-b370-49bc-b4b6-3dc67b2fcf4d&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/subscribe?i=22a90f5b-b370-49bc-b4b6-3dc67b2fcf4d&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is Inside TIME? Inside TIME is a twice-weekly newsletter written by TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs. It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. It reaches 430,000 subscribers with a 50.7% open rate as of August 2026. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Jimmy LaSalvia](https://time.com/author/jimmy-lasalvia/) ## Jimmy LaSalvia Oct 29, 2015 2:53 PM UTC  Donald Trump and Jimmy LaSalvia at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC, on Feb. 10, 2011. Donald Trump and Jimmy LaSalvia at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC, on Feb. 10, 2011. Photo courtesy of author by [Jimmy LaSalvia](https://time.com/author/jimmy-lasalvia/) ## Jimmy LaSalvia Oct 29, 2015 2:53 PM UTC It’s been a long time since ideology and philosophy of government dominated our political discourse. In our modern partisan political arena even the old words “conservative,” “liberal,” “Republican” and “Democrat” just don’t seem to mean what they used to mean. The fundamental dynamic of politics today is “us versus them,” and winning against “them” seems to be the most important thing. We saw this strategy on display during the third Republican presidential debate Wednesday night. This mindset infects both major political parties, but it’s particularly illustrative in the modern GOP. In recent years, almost the only thing that has united Republicans is opposition to the Democrats. That’s how they’ve been able to keep together their untenable coalition of different groups who share little else in common. Just fight “them.” One recent example of the priority of political victories over good government was House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s [admission](http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/30/politics/kevin-mccarthy-benghazi-committee-speaker/) that one of the biggest accomplishments of the Republican-led House was that the Benghazi committee had driven down Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers. It’s not just the Democrats that they attack. Often lately, “us versus them” is playing out even among groups within the GOP, and the attack culture is also routinely used to demonize other groups outside of the party in order to build support among activists. It’s particularly unsettling when the attacks on “them” highlight cultural differences and serve to divide people based on who they are. That dynamic is all you have to look at in order to understand the rise of Donald Trump. He rocketed to the top of the polls by tapping into the fears of the segment of the Republican Party who are uncomfortable with people who are culturally different from them. I admit that I was intrigued by Donald Trump as a candidate, at first. In fact, I invited him to give his first speech as a potential candidate in 2011 at the Conservative Political Action Conference at the invitation of GOProud, the organization for gay conservatives I co-founded and led. That was before he launched into his cultural division strategy by trying to demonize his potential opponent in that race, President Barack Obama. Trump was the ringleader of the birther movement, the campaign to convince voters that the president was actually born in Kenya, not his native Hawaii. His message was that Obama was not one of “us.” Trump has taken the politics of demonization and division to a whole new level, but this isn’t the first time Republicans have targeted cultural diversity to pit different groups against each other. The Richard Nixon campaign’s racist “Southern strategy” and George W. Bush’s 2004 anti-gay re-election campaign are other examples in recent history. And Trump isn’t the only one attacking “them” this year in an effort to attract Republican primary voters. The campaigns of Ben Carson and Ted Cruz have also used that strategy to appeal to their evangelical Christian audience’s discomfort with cultural diversity. The political problem for Republicans is that today in America, we are living in a very diverse multicultural country. Our country includes Hispanics, Muslims, gays, blacks, and many other groups who all have cultural experiences that are unique to their group’s experience. Those unique cultural experiences are what we bring to our shared American cultural melting pot. It’s fundamentally what makes all of us “us.” I left the two-party system and became politically independent because I didn’t want to be on a team against “them” anymore. I hope more people will find that independence and come together with all of “us” to work to make our country better. _Jimmy LaSalvia is the author of_ [No Hope: Why I Left the GOP (and You Should Too)](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1510702385/?tag=timecom-20)_. He is a strategist, commentator, speaker, founder of the organization GOProud and previously served as the director of programs and policy for Log Cabin Republicans._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4087749/republican-debate-donald-trump-politics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4087749/republican-debate-donald-trump-politics/"},"headline":"Trump-Style Politics Made Me Quit the GOP","datePublished":"2015-10-29T14:53:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:05:12.748Z","description":"Too much of politics today is 'us versus them'","url":"https://time.com/4087749/republican-debate-donald-trump-politics/","keywords":["politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt971d890338ac4588/69886e66428a9e3ce5ccfce8/jimmy-and-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jimmy LaSalvia","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jimmy-lasalvia/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt971d890338ac4588/69886e66428a9e3ce5ccfce8/jimmy-and-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump and Jimmy LaSalvia at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC, on Feb. 10, 2011.","caption":"Donald Trump and Jimmy LaSalvia at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC, on Feb. 10, 2011.","creditText":"Photo courtesy of author","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4087749/republican-debate-donald-trump-politics/","name":"Trump-Style Politics Made Me Quit the GOP"}}]}] ```