COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) — On a recent evening in northern Kentucky, a dozen young Republicans gathered at dEcORa, a bar with a neon interior as quirky as its capital letters, to drink beers and brightly colored cocktails, poke fun at each other and criticize the presidential administration they were hopeful about last year.
So far, their enthusiasm for Donald Trump has condensed into frustration.
“I definitely don’t regret voting for Trump in 2024,” said Nathaniel Showalter, 34, sitting in front of a concrete pillar covered in spray paint. “I can’t wait for him to step down.”
That night, under the dim lights of the bar, there was an outpouring of feeling that the Republican establishment — which they initially praised Trump for destroying but which some now see as sustaining it — had abandoned them. That worsening feeling has widened the generational divide between younger and older conservatives as the party slowly begins to contemplate a future without Trump in power.
Bar staff view Trump’s war with Iran as a betrayal of his campaign promises. They live in an economy that looks as precarious as it did before he took office. They also mourned the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old conservative activist they considered their only influential spokesman in the White House.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie lost one of their strongest allies in Congress when he lost his primary election on Tuesday. Thomas Massie gained a younger, anti-establishment following while feuding with Trump.
“There seems to be a concerted effort to exclude the next generation from the right,” said TJ Roberts, the group’s lanky leader. He was a 28-year-old state representative and the only man in a suit in the bar. “There’s a sense of entitlement on the right. ‘Well, I’m better than everyone else.'” Well, sure, but stomach flu is better than stomach cancer. I’d rather have neither. “
Roberts, who convenes the group every month to discuss politics, this time with The Associated Press, worries that young people like the ones gathered at dEcORa “will live shorter, less prosperous lives than your parents did.”
“We have to make sure young Republicans have a voice in Washington, D.C.,” he said.
‘This is why we need a change in leadership’
The raucous crowd of men in their 20s and 30s huddled around a low table painted with kaleidoscope art. They made off-color jokes and debated each other, sometimes slipping into impressions of Trump or conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
While people’s views on Trump’s presidency are not uniform — some prefer his second term more than others — they are all angry about the war with Iran.
For many in this group, the epic act of rage was more than a “complete betrayal of his promise,” as 32-year-old Michael Gartman put it. This proves that their voices are being drowned out by the political establishment, defense contractors and mega-donors they believe are pushing Israel’s agenda.
Logan Edge, a 30-year-old gun lobbyist wearing a Hawaiian-style shirt and a Lincoln-esque beard, imitated Trump as he talked about billionaire Miriam Adelson, whom Trump has called his adviser on Israel.
“Oh, Miriam, she’s right there, and she loves Israel, maybe more than America,” he said.
He lowered the president’s tone and said, “You can’t pee on my shoes and then tell me it’s raining.”
Across from Logan sat Andrew Cooperrider, 33, who hosts a conservative podcast about Kentucky politics, and his 14-year-old son, Leo. The teenager aspired to become an underwater welder and suggested to his father that he could join the U.S. Navy for training.
“I say absolutely not,” Knight Cooper Sr. said. “With everything going on, my son is not going to join the military now and fight for these mentally ill people.”
“Thank you!” someone shouted, and Cooper Ryder added that Leo could pursue this trade outside the military.
Edge chimed in, saying he visited Arlington National Cemetery with his father, who served in Desert Storm and Iraq.
There’s a phone app that guides you to a specific cemetery, he said, his voice deepening with emotion. “My dad and I spent the day looking for his friend. It was very exciting, very tough. You could take the subway and go to the next subway station and the first thing you see is Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, and I said to my dad, ‘Look what you’re about to see.'”
The edge paused. “It brings tears to my eyes,” he said, pushing his chair back and looking away from the crowd. Roberts leaned forward and asked Logan if he was okay.
“Why does my friend have to be there?” said Angel Figueroa, 27, who served in the military and now knows people in the Middle East. “One day, I’ll be sad to see one of my friends get bombed, but do I have to go look at their box now?”
Most people think a draft is unlikely. But Elijah Drysdale, 27, wearing a backwards hat and red-haired mullet, said the fact that it even became a discussion “means a lot to me, and that’s why we need a change in leadership.”
‘He broke a lot of promises’
Despite Roberts’ concerns about the Republican establishment, he is a rare member of dEcORa’s team who is happy with a second Trump term. He believes that “the party under President Donald Trump is undoubtedly the best Republican Party I have ever seen in my lifetime, and the old order is dead.”
“It’s dying,” someone interjected.
“No, it’s gone,” Roberts countered. “Trump has shifted the culture so well that these conversations you’re hearing now would not have been acceptable to the Republican Party in 2014.”
Roberts said people are now more willing to oppose foreign military entanglements, corporate bailouts and aid to foreign countries such as Ukraine and Israel. The party has also taken a tougher stance on immigration, something attendees applauded.
“I do think Trump started the downfall of (the establishment), and I think now he’s the only one who can sustain it,” Cooper Ryder Sr. said, citing Trump’s support for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and opposition to Massie.
“We can do better,” said John Wardrop, 24, wearing a short-sleeved button-down top and a large belt buckle. He believed there was hope for some in the administration, such as Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vice President J.D. Vance.
“I actually disagree,” said Drysdale, who has been harsher than most in his criticism of Trump. “I think he broke a lot of promises.”
He said any association with the current administration would “tarnish your reputation. This is not the party we want, this is not the party we voted for, and this is not the party we think we voted for.”
Can they envision voting for a Democrat?
Henry Hecht, a 26-year-old liberal, took a sip of a cocktail topped with a pirate flag, raised his hand tentatively and shrugged.
“What is he doing here?” Cooperrider said, pretending to be angry. “Take him out and someone take the wood!”
“Eventually this cycle must be broken”
Kirk founded the conservative youth group Turning Point USA, and his death heightened the sense of unease. Kirk appears to have no clear heir, and Roberts said he is “kind of a mediator so Trump understands where the younger Republicans are coming from.”
The group listed several examples where they believe Republican lawmakers have betrayed their commitments and conservative ideology, such as the extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the growing national debt.
Massie has battled the White House on these and other issues. Trump responded by endorsing his primary challenger, former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, who centered his campaign on loyalty to the president.
Gallain’s victory on Tuesday demonstrated Trump’s influence over the party but also deepened dissatisfaction with his leadership in other areas.
“We can’t really fight the left until we defeat these older generations of baby boomer Republicans,” Edge said. “The left is organized, the left is institutionalized, they are smart, they have tactics, they are not joking, they do not play around.”
“We look at our own organization on our side and say, ‘We’re a little lost,'” Cooper Ryder said, hinting at greater mobilization among younger liberals.
“Why don’t right-wingers do this?” Hecht asked.
“My question is: The right has been making fun of their promises for so long, why would you do that?” Roberts said.
“This creates an infinite loop,” he added. “Eventually this cycle has to be broken.”
