Now, nonetheless, we’ve got the Democratic Occasion on one aspect and the Republican dumpster hearth on the opposite. The GOP is a cult, held in thrall by an unstable bully and would-be authoritarian. Held captive by a person who despatched armed insurrectionists to the Capitol in a violent try to overturn his defeat in a free and truthful election. Held hostage by a person who punishes any perceived disloyalty with political execution.
On the 2020 Republican Nationwide Conference, the GOP didn’t even supply a celebration platform. As an alternative, it merely affirmed its “sturdy assist for President Donald Trump” and his “America-first agenda,” no matter that may be at any given second.
The nation could be silly, at this level, to anticipate Republicans to stand up and free themselves. Take a look at how the congressional negotiations over border safety and Ukraine assist have modified since Trump’s New Hampshire victory on Tuesday. Simply final week, GOP senators, together with Minority Chief Mitch McConnell (Ky.), had been optimistic that the package deal would swiftly be authorized by the Senate. However on Wednesday, McConnell informed a closed-door assembly of his caucus that there may now not be a path ahead for the invoice — as a result of Trump opposes any treatment for the border disaster that may make President Biden look good.
That is madness. Democrats are providing one thing Republicans have needed for years, and may by no means be supplied once more: more durable border safety with no path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already within the nation, together with “dreamers.” However Pricey Chief Trump says no and, instantly, GOP senators are afraid to say sure.
Republicans in Congress, clearly, is not going to free their celebration. And it appears to be like uncertain that the GOP base has any intention of breaking the chains that bind it.
Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley completed a robust second in New Hampshire, turning into the anti-Trump by default. However the subsequent contested main is a month away, and it’s in her house state, which could not really feel very welcoming. For 4 lengthy weeks, she must survive withering private assaults from Trump and calls from highly effective Republicans to drop out of the race within the identify of celebration unity. After which, if she makes it to Feb. 24, she is going to want a miracle.
The RealClearPolitics average of polls in South Carolina reveals Trump with a 30-point lead. These surveys had been taken earlier than the opposite GOP candidates dropped out, so Haley may be anticipated to shut the hole. However nearly all the state’s Republican elected officers have fallen in line behind Trump — together with Sen. Tim Scott, whom Haley first appointed to the Senate in 2013 when she was governor, and who obsequiously told Trump “I just love you” throughout Trump’s New Hampshire victory speech.
It is usually mistaken to anticipate the justice system to return to the celebration’s rescue. It’s potential that one or two of the felony circumstances towards Trump may finish — in conviction or acquittal — earlier than November. However that appears to me more and more unlikely. And even when the previous president is a felon, I discover it arduous to think about his celebration throwing him overboard.
What can save the GOP from itself? Defeat. Crushing, unambiguous defeat.
Our political events reform and reconstitute themselves after being soundly rebuked by the voters. After the catastrophe of President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation and the aimlessness of the Gerald Ford administration, Republicans regrouped and have become the celebration of Ronald Reagan; his insurance policies weren’t these I agreed with, however they had been coherent and may very well be negotiated with. After Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis misplaced successive presidential elections, their celebration turned to Invoice Clinton and the “new Democrats,” whose concepts had been a break with the previous — and, once more, held collectively as an ideology.
If you would like the GOP to be a severe conservative political celebration and never a MAGA cult, ship Republicans into the wilderness. Vote for Biden. Take away Republicans’ management of the Home. Give Democrats an even bigger majority within the Senate. Vote Republican officers out of statehouses, metropolis halls and faculty boards.
Make the metaphorical ashes from which a brand new GOP can rise.
