Hard Truths for Republicans

1) The “Republican Party” was, in 2016, the subject of an unfriendly takeover. That takeover was almost inadvertently architected by Roger Stone Jr., in the sense that Stone’s objective was to not get Donald Trump elected — an almost delusional aspiration at the outset — but rather to use the Trump candidacy to undermine confidence in democratic institutions (ref. #StopTheSteal, registered as a URL on February 24, 2016, and as a corporate entity on April 3, 2016, and the relentless propagation of the “rigged election” meme prior to the November 2016 election). The domestically initiated takeover was abetted, perhaps decisively, by the now well-documented involvement of the Russian Federation.

2) To the extent that the disparate factions that comprise what is called “The Republican Party” today possess any coherent policy positions, they are far closer to those long held by socialist critics of America, e.g. Sen. Bernie Sanders and literal KGB propaganda of the 1970s and 1980s (“American Carnage”), than those traditionally espoused by Republicans (“City on a Hill”).

3) The powerful faction that we can refer to as “MAGA Republicans” (of which President Trump serves as the erratic frontman) has, from the 2016 presidential campaign onwards, so consistently advanced Kremlin talking points that payments would appear to be due, if they have not already been made.

4) In this manner MAGA Republicans — it is an open question as to whether we can simply say “Republicans” at this point — are following an #AmericaFirst precedent whose future, like that of the 1940 incarnation, is absolute ignominy.

5) While the majority of Republicans have shamefully capitulated during the above-described takeover process — for sheer cravenness, there can no be a more pathetic example than@LindseyGrahamSC — a few have demonstrated moral courage for which the judgement of history will be their only true reward. Notable among these are Sen. John McCain, Sen. Liz Cheney, and Sen. Mitt Romney.

At this point it doesn’t really matter which of the current factions are “Republicans” and which are “Republicans in Name Only.” The GOP rot is just too deep. What’s more, it is of a variety that has literally never been seen before in American political life. It’s not clear that the Republican Party can be saved, or what will take its place if it follows its current course into shameful oblivion.

See also “Hard Truths for Democrats”.