You're absolutely right – people tend to forget the Republican Party was on its way to self-destructing decades before Donald Trump even got interested.
I would personally lay the beginning of the destruction at the feet of Richard Nixon, who wanted to win an election so badly that he invited the Dixiecrats to join him. Sure, the Republican Party got almost unstoppable in the 80s and early 90s, but even then the internal divisions were starting to shake it apart. Without a unifying influence like (gods help me) Ronald Reagan, or the War on Terror which the Bushes capitalized on, this kind of stuff probably would've happened a quarter century sooner.
The only thing Donald Trump brings to the party is his narcissistic insistence that it's really all just about him. The country club Republicans who tolerated Newt Gingrich and George W. Bush have only themselves to blame for the shape the Republican Party is in now.
the antiestablishment turn in the gop started with Reagan. it started to cause real problems internally for the gop with Gingrich, more or less. now it's a race to see if they destroy themselves or the country first.
What Noah said, Caz— the Republican Party looked stable and in power from the outside, but from the inside the party of conservative governance (fiscally, responsible, with strong support for the military, and with a deep-seated belief in religion as a civic principle) was fighting a losing battle against the party of NO governance… Unless you were not straight, White, Protestant, or Male!
I really don't think he even cares about the house, or has much idea what chaos vs order means in the house. he's not that bright, especially about stuff that doesn't affect him directly.
The GOP was in the toilet before Trump but he flushed.
(Sorry, just in the mood)
You're absolutely right – people tend to forget the Republican Party was on its way to self-destructing decades before Donald Trump even got interested.
I would personally lay the beginning of the destruction at the feet of Richard Nixon, who wanted to win an election so badly that he invited the Dixiecrats to join him. Sure, the Republican Party got almost unstoppable in the 80s and early 90s, but even then the internal divisions were starting to shake it apart. Without a unifying influence like (gods help me) Ronald Reagan, or the War on Terror which the Bushes capitalized on, this kind of stuff probably would've happened a quarter century sooner.
The only thing Donald Trump brings to the party is his narcissistic insistence that it's really all just about him. The country club Republicans who tolerated Newt Gingrich and George W. Bush have only themselves to blame for the shape the Republican Party is in now.
In total accord.
the antiestablishment turn in the gop started with Reagan. it started to cause real problems internally for the gop with Gingrich, more or less. now it's a race to see if they destroy themselves or the country first.
What Noah said, Caz— the Republican Party looked stable and in power from the outside, but from the inside the party of conservative governance (fiscally, responsible, with strong support for the military, and with a deep-seated belief in religion as a civic principle) was fighting a losing battle against the party of NO governance… Unless you were not straight, White, Protestant, or Male!
I really don't think he even cares about the house, or has much idea what chaos vs order means in the house. he's not that bright, especially about stuff that doesn't affect him directly.