AMERICAN REBOOT

Control, alt, delete: A former Texas congressman and CIA officer urges the GOP to start afresh.

“When you are troubleshooting a computer problem and you can’t figure out why the computer is acting weirdly,” writes Hurd, “the best thing you can do is reboot.” The author may have left Congress to work in artificial intelligence—a topic that occupies a big chunk of his book—but he hasn’t left a Republican Party that doesn’t have much room for people like him, of mixed race and moderate tendencies. Hurd believes that Trump lost the 2020 presidential race, that supporters of the Jan. 6 mob represent a clear and present danger to democracy, that climate change must be addressed, and that “our government must treat all people humanely, even ones who come here illegally.” For all that, he is an orthodox Republican in thinking that the Democratic Party is furthering socialism and that the free market is sacrosanct. Hurd holds that given the former, the GOP has a fighting chance to win future elections (never mind gerrymandering and voter suppression), if only it becomes more closely attuned to the realities of a country that is steadily becoming browner, younger, and greener. That would presuppose losing its fealty to Trump, for whom he has little use (and who returned the favor). Hurd, who represented a huge district, reports on the secrets of his success among an electorate that had traditionally voted Democratic: He won by listening and being on the ground, traveling constantly from one ranch and little town to the next. He also reveals a few useful lessons of spycraft from his days in the CIA: Know where the safe places are, and know your friends and enemies—of which there are many, including China, Russia, and North Korea.

Hurd’s plea for a kinder, gentler GOP is well reasoned but quixotic given the party’s current rabidity.