CommentsPOLITICS-There is no doubting at this point that the Republican Party as it was known, is no more.
Those individuals that are common sense Republicans are orphans. Many looked on, watching their party de-evolve as they adopted the racist, bigoted rhetoric of trump, knowing in their hearts that this is not who they are. However, like good little Republicans, they voted for trump anyhow. After all, they always line up to support the party, only this time, they supported one crazed man over country. Mitch McConnell and the spineless Republican representatives that made an attempted coup on our Democratic experiment failed. Now their party is left in shambles, huddling in back rooms, trying to regroup to see if they can try again.
The extremist direction could have gone either way, however, we need to acknowledge that the Democrats refused to allow the extreme left to hijack their party. History shows that extremists last only a short time and don’t reflect the views of the majority. In the case of Republicans, they became drunk with power that they saw in trump and his sick and twisted supporters. They had never experienced anything like this before. This may explain why the Republicans decided to forgo a standard agenda and instead, adopt the agenda of “anything trump wants.”
This is not to say that Republicans of honor stood by and idly watched. We need to give credit to those that founded such groups as The Lincoln Project, The Meidas Touch, and Republicans Against Trump. These individuals stood up and not only yelled their complete disgust with trump and other Republicans, but did it in ways that were snarky, savvy, and spot on. Thier mere presence demonstrated that Republicans with common sense realized that trump and his extremist cult do not represent who they are.
According to Pew Research report:
“Around a third of registered voters in the U.S. (34%) identify as independents, while 33% identify as Democrats and 29% identify as Republicans, according to a Center analysis of Americans’ partisan identification based on surveys of more than 12,000 registered voters in 2018 and 2019.
Most independents in the U.S. lean toward one of the two major parties. When taking independents’ partisan leanings into account, 49% of all registered voters either identify as Democrats or lean to the party, while 44% identify as Republicans or lean to the GOP.
Party identification among registered voters hasn’t changed dramatically over the past 25 years, but there have been some modest shifts. One such shift is that the Democratic Party’s advantage over the Republican Party in party identification has become smaller since 2017. Of course, just because a registered voter identifies with or leans toward a particular party does not necessarily mean they will vote for a candidate of that party (or vote at all). In a study of validated voters in 2016, 5% of Democrats and Democratic leaners reported voting for Trump, and 4% of Republicans and GOP leaners reported voting for Hillary Clinton.”
History shows us that the Republican Party has a small group that support them and they have devoted decades to trying to enhance their numbers by reducing those that would vote Democrat through gerrymandering and voter suppression efforts. Cheating seems to be their preferred method of trying to win elections and that not only became painfully obvious as the trump campaign made attempts at disenfranchising Black American voters, but sent their representatives to the recounts in Wisconsin to demand that huge swaths of ballots be thrown out based on their own criteria. All the while, the Republicans in Congress and the Senate remained quiet, which is tantamount to supporting these horrendous actions.
Republican Party Destruction due to Fear of trump AND his cult
Many have posed the question as to why the Republican Party refuses to address the long list of illegal and immoral actions and rhetoric of trump. The truth is that they are not only deathly afraid of “mean tweets” by the orange guy that has the look and IQ of a carrot, but that his rabid cult will turn on them in vast numbers. The Republicans think that as long as they can act like trump sycophants, the trumpers will follow them.
This ideology is both dangerous and wrong. Extremists that have a cult mentality will turn on anyone or any organization that makes the slightest hint that trump has done something unacceptable. Fox experienced this first hand as they have decided to change some of their main reporting to include a few facts and when these facts were unfavorable to trump, the cult members attacked with venom dripping out of their agape mouths.
A political party does not align themselves with a single person. That is dictatorship.
McConnell and his motley group have positioned themselves into a corner and there is no way out that promises winning anything. They are fully aware that trump has wielded power like no other head of the RNC, but it is power that is out of control and lacks any semblance of sanity. The Republicans also know that even those that have pledged their undying loyalty to trump have ended up under the bus whenever trump feels like it. It doesn’t take a history buff to recognize that this is the behavior of totalitarian rule and it never ends well.
The icing on the cake of their demise was the decision of Republicans to follow trump’s example on the deadly Coronavirus. Governors such as DeSantis, a known trump mini-me, refused to follow the advice of science and the medical community, and thousands are dying in the State of Florida. DeSantis is but one of the Republican governors that blatantly put their hopeful glances to trump for approval while letting thousands suffer and die. There is a small number of former trumpers that didn’t really buy into the whole “cult thing” that have woken up to realize the truth. But if you think having COVID-19 would change his most devout followers, think again. Some that are in hospitals are saying things like “it must be the flu, it can’t be COVID, that’s a hoax.”
The Cult Won’t Go Away
The fact is that trump is finally at the point where he is showing that he is a weak coward. No longer in power, he may try to spread lies of his future in politics or starting a trump media program, but the reality is he will be too busy fighting off the SDNY criminal charges and those of tax evasion. The goal of the SDNY is to prosecute and collect all funds that were funneled through his New York corporate office, which includes properties purchased. Deutch Bank has been trying to sell off trump’s loans and when no one buys them, they have already prepared a list of properties that they will claim. Trump and his entire family will be in litigation and (hopefully) in jail.
However, this will not get rid of the trump cult. He gave them a voice to express their hate, racism, and bigotry and they will not go quietly back into the night. These people are the losers of the country and he offered them a tribal group that allowed them to say and do anything that they wanted. They are aligned with the Republican Party and they are stuck with that ugly face.
When the Party splits, neither group will be large enough to win any elections. This is the biggest fear of the RNC, because they know that they are now viewed by the world as the worst of humanity. Republicans with common sense may share some ideologies with Democrats but the division is too great for them to join the party. This leaves only one choice, and that’s to create a new party that reflects the beliefs and values of the real GOP.
Given the foreign influence in social media and money that has flowed into the U.S. on behalf of the Republicans, do not underestimate that they will find someone else to prop up as the next dictator. Trump was a buffoon from the beginning, bungling his way through everything that he touched. The next person may be smart and savvy, saying the things that the cult want to hear and acting just nice enough that it might draw in the common sense Republicans.
(S. Novi is a journalist that worked in the media and continues to seek out truth and integrity. A liberal and one that is suspicious of cults and empty promises. This piece was posted earlier at Medium.com)
-cw
