Trump's rot has reached the GOP's roots
Opinion by Michael Gerson
The acquittal of former president Donald Trump from charges of inciting insurrection brought hints of hope for the Republican future. There was Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) following the facts to a conviction vote. There was Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) bluntly opposing the presidents actions. The circle of GOP resistance to Trumps influence has expanded beyond the conscience of Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).
But the dominant note of the day was still cowardice. The case presented by the House impeachment managers was so compelling and overwhelming that the extent of Republican cravenness was highlighted in neon. Republicans who knew better tried to hide behind thin technicalities. And most Republican senators did not seem to know better. In the end, we witnessed a historic collapse of moral and political leadership. And it was no less tragic for being expected.
There is a natural process by which political parties renew themselves. Newt Gingrichs combative, uncompromising Republican revolution in the mid-1990s was a foil for the compassionate conservatism that defined the party in the 2000 presidential election. The rise of tea-party, anti-government populism set the stage for a contrasting reform conservatism, which sought to modernize government in pursuit of populist goals.
This dialectic, however, really operates only in the realm of policy. If Trumpism were merely a set of proposals, there could be an antithesis. But the movement fully revealed by the Jan. 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol is united by a belief that the White, Christian America of its imagination is on the verge of destruction, and that it must be preserved by any means necessary. This is less a political philosophy than a warped religious belief. There can be no compromise in a culture war. There can be no splitting of differences at Armageddon.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-rot-has-reached-the-gops-roots/2021/02/15/8415fbb8-6fb9-11eb-85fa-e0ccb3660358_story.html
The GOP nominated Trump. They must like him.
Harker
(13,880 posts)are being castigated by their state party organizations.
Yes, they must like him... for a while longer.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)The GOP has just gotten more craven and disgusting every year, going back to at least Nixon. No matter how much lipstick they slather on that pig, it's always the same pig - just smellier and smellier.