The Grand Ole Party, the party of Lincoln, the party of Reagan….it is a pittance of what it once was.

I have been stating to friends, and in writing, that the longer the Republican Party continues to be wrapped around Donald J. Trump’s axle, the more the party will harm and diminish itself.   I have stated from before 2016 the “Donald” would harm this nation in ways that would take years, even decades to recover from.

The current state of the Republican Party is just one example of this.  The Party of Lincoln is at war with itself.   The Party of Reagan, the party of hope, the party of lofty aspirations has become the party of fear, the party of doubts.  It was Reagan himself who said in 1989.

“Whatever else history may say about me when I am gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way.”

Donald J. Trump plays to people’s fears, to their anger, to their bias, even to their bigotry.  He has sought to benefit from the divisions within the country, even to further those divisions to his personal benefit. Ronald Reagan would reject Donald J. Trump with a vengeance, the truth is that today’s Republican Party would factually reject Ronald Reagan.

The current debacle within the Halls of Congress where the majority party, the Republican Party, has the inability to govern itself in naming a Speaker of the House shows its inability to govern the nation.  Our civic classes have failed many of us, but without a Speaker of the House, a major branch of the government is rudderless, unable to govern, unable to prioritize what issues it will address and what actions it will take.  The House then becomes parallelized and unable to respond to crisis, unable to protect and secure the nation as the House is mandated to do. Just yesterday a Republican Representative said the Republican caucus should reach out to Donald J. Trump as to what they should do.   Think about that, a failed President, loser of the 2018, 2020, and 2022 elections, found liable both for sexually abusing a woman and for defaming her, with currently 91 indictments against him in four separate cases in four separate criminal districts, having been found at fault for fraud concerning Trump enterprises and likely to lose his ability to do business in New York, is who the Republican caucus feels they must reach out to for help in their time of need.

Yes, the Republican Party is wrapped around the Trump’s axle and until the party returns to its foundations, the party will continue to diminish itself, to fail in representing its constituency, to fail in its responsibility to the nation.