Trump Has Destroyed The Republican Party [View all]

[Celerity]

Trump destroyed the state parties in battleground states just in time for the most important election of his life.

https://thebanter.substack.com/p/trump-has-destroyed-the-republican

https://archive.li/nwlSf



Inertia is the tendency for an object in motion to stay in motion. It’s a law of physics that, surprisingly, frequently applies to human behavior and institutions. What this means in practical terms is that even when something fundamental changes, whether for good or ill, there is often a lag time until we see the effect of those changes. Another way of putting it is “a fish rots from the head down.” The Republican Party is the fish in question and it is starting to decompose. As bad as the stench is, what you are seeing (or smelling) is the slow and inevitable death of an organization consumed by the cancer of Trumpism.

The (college) party is over

Back in May, I wrote about Trumpism infecting college Young Republican clubs. Once upon a time, these clubs were incubators for baby Republicans who would grow up to hate all the right people and unquestioningly pursue the Republican agenda. They would assist state GOP parties with get out the vote efforts and pushing local policy. They, like college Democratic clubs, were part of the boring machinery that gets work done. But that was then and this is now. Trump followers don’t have time for the boring drudge work needed to pass zoning laws to disadvantage Black families or push tax cuts that will slowly strangle homeless shelters while lining the pockets of real estate developers. That isn’t as exciting as getting on camera and openly endorsing political violence.

Why bother with local politics when being the loudest, most abrasive asshole possible will garner notoriety in a party that rewards loud abrasive assholes? Newt Gingrich really started the ball rolling on this with the Tea Party was the most obvious manifestation. At least until Trump made it the only real metric of success in the GOP. Now, being good at your job as a Republican is almost entirely defined by how awful you are as a human being. The downside of this is that the Republican Party, already highly dysfunctional at the national level, is starting to break apart at every level. If you think the college level stuff is bad, wait until you see what’s happening to the state parties.

Broke, in more ways than one

While they are not usually covered in glory, state parties are kind of important when it comes to elections. They hold primaries and organize little things like registration and get out the vote drives. They keep an eye on polling places and report any shenanigans, legitimate or accidental. They’re pretty vital to the process, especially in swing states where 20,000 votes can mean the difference between control of the Senate and the White House. They’re really important in helping determine who controls the state legislature and the governor’s mansion. And yet, Republican state parties across the country are on the verge of collapse, ideologically, organizationally, and financially. The National Review, of all places, has been unsparing in its reporting about this:



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