Mark Sanford outlines ‘second chance’ for a post-Trump Republican Party in new book

When Republican Mark Sanford lost his 2018 congressional primary after not aligning himself closely enough with then-President Donald Trump, the former South Carolina congressman and governor recognized his political mistake.

But he did not apologize for it.

“A lot of people would come up to me over the course of this campaign and they’d say, ‘Are you for or against Trump?’ and I’d say ‘I’m neither for nor against Trump,’” Sanford said in his concession speech that night. “I’m for ideas that I’ve long stood for over the entirety of my time in politics based on limited government.”

He would then cite a key tenant of the South Carolina Republican Creed: “I will never cower before any master, save my God.”

Now, in a new book set to be released on Aug. 24, Sanford will unpack what he has long described as Trump’s “cult of personality” and the lasting damage he thinks the former president has had on the Republican Party.

Sanford’s book will also promise another path forward as the Republican Party grapples with Trump’s continued influence, and debates whether the GOP should abandon him or stand by him.

The book is called “Two Roads Diverged: A Second Chance for the Republican Party, the Conservative Movement, the Nation— and Ourselves.” It will be released in hardback and in an e-reader format.

The title is a nod to the Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken,” which ends with the author declaring, “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

Sanford announced the news in a tweet Monday morning.

The book is published by Vertel Publishing, an imprint of Arcadia Publishing and The History Press, a regional publisher based in Charleston. Sanford’s 336-page account is part memoir, and part political call to action.

A summary of the book listed on Amazon.com provides more detail.

“Sanford analyzes the immense harm he believes Trump’s presidency of lies, cronyism, shady dealings, and bullying caused to our country, and especially to the Republican party,” the blurb states. “Within four years, the GOP was synonymous with fake news, extreme divisiveness, and brazen lies. Rather than becoming great again, the party had degenerated into a personality cult centered around Donald Trump. But Sanford strongly believes that the Republican party has a choice at its current crossroads.”

In the book, Sanford writes that he is no stranger to second chances. He zeroes in on two moments when he should have been “a dead man walking” politically: First, in 2009, when as governor he abandoned South Carolina for a trip to Argentina that exposed his extramarital affair and destroyed his marriage. Then, in 2018, when his criticism of Trump cost him his seat on Congress.

In 2020, Sanford mounted a brief presidential primary challenge to Trump. It ended after 65 days when Sanford’s message, which focused on the national debt, failed to gain traction.

“As he was, the GOP has been given a second chance...” the book summary states, “if those in the party are wise enough to recognize it, and brave enough to take it.”

Sanford’s book joins a growing chorus of former Republican lawmakers who are openly debating their party’s future after Trump lost the presidency in 2020 to Democrat Joe Biden.

Former Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan in a May 27 speech at the Ronald Reagan Library warned about the party’s reliance on a single figure.

“If the conservative cause depends on the populist appeal of one personality, or on second-rate imitations, then we’re not going anywhere,” Ryan said.

Soon, two more South Carolina political figures will address what they see at the future of the party, too.

Former United Nations Ambassador and S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley and current U.S. Sen. Tim Scott will both appear in the speaking series “Time for Choosing,” the same series Ryan participated in last month.