Think, for a second, about the Republican party’s future. Yes, I’m talking about that venial, corrupt, and lawless party of Trump. Sure, Nathan and I have called the modern Republican party a criminal conspiracy a few times. (Because they are.) But think about the poor GOP ‘statesmen’ and their shrinking political future. If this ends at the next election – if Trump doesn’t succeed in his Russian-financed American coup – how will the Republicans ever recover as a party? As a party, the GOP is disgraced, sinking to horrible levels of dishonesty and bad faith. They’ve burned it all on the bet that America falls before the check comes due.
Trump controls every lever of Republican party power. Call it a hostile takeover if you like. Republicans may have complained at first, but now that he’s in power, they grovel convincingly, supporting every random Twitter flatulence. And there Trump sits every morning, big, fat, orange, and happy on his throne, cackling out each day’s new revenge-tweet. No Republican will contradict a single thing he does. Honestly, does it matter if they obey him out of genuine belief or political fear? They still do everything he demands every time.
So what happens if America doesn’t succumb? Suppose Trump, Senate Majority Leader “Moscow” Mitch McConnell, Senator Lindsey Graham, and the other, lesser Republicans don’t get their imperial Presidency installed before they lose power? What will they have left for themselves?
Their personal reputations are shot. They’re liars, of course, on everything and anything. Republicans will lie about the weather, for god’s sake! How can anyone believe them after all their wild lies and visible bad faith? Sure, they defended their Republican brand with vigor, no matter how egregious the crimes, but is that really… um… American?
And it’s not just personal lies. The GOP is institutionally dishonest, too, changing their purported positions almost hourly. What does the Republican party stand for? Which of their core beliefs survived Trump? Fiscal conservatism (budgetary prudence)? Individualism (protecting individual choices and holding their goals over state and social groups)? Social conservatism seems in good shape, what with their misogyny, racism, and white supremacy, but that’s about it.
Strong national defense? We’re kowtowing to Putin, leaving our elections open to agitprop and direct Russian meddling. McConnell is proud of this. We abandon our allies and give away our political capital as gifts to autocrats.
That’s the policy end. Personally, are Republicans acting venially? How many people here believe Trump isn’t benefitting financially? That he isn’t using the powers of his office for personal gain? Trump has been doing his best to transform us into just another Kleptocracy.
How about Mitch McConnell? Remember that Elaine Chao is his wife and, entirely coincidentally, Trump made her his Secretary of Transportation. She pays (well, all Americans pay, really) for a full-time federal employee whose only job is to ensure benefits for Tennessee, Mitch’s home state. And don’t forget that Mitch was promised hundreds of millions in investment to build a new Aluminum plant in Tennessee. Shame that the investor is a Russian oligarch currently under US sanctions. Not a problem for Moscow Mitch, though. Kleptocrat.
Russia has been funneling cash to Republicans through any number of cutouts. We’ve found some, we’re investigating others (the NRA should be interesting), but nobody thinks we’ve found all of them. But, so far, accepting Russian campaign donations has been a Republican monopoly.
And all that Russian money must be working. As a group, the GOP has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s agenda so closely it’s as if they’re following his orders. I mean, their fielty to every Putin goal is uncannily accurate. Why else does Trump scratch every time Putin gets an itch?
Think about Putin’s goals. He hates America, NATO, and the EU above all. How have the GOP and Trump affected Putin’s goals? America was already starting to decline in power before Trump took office. And that wasn’t a bad thing. The rest of the world was finally recovering from poverty and war, getting more prosperous and more secure.
Unfortunately, that was too slow for Putin. So Trump kicked American influence down that hill at every opportunity. The EU was already tottering with Brexit (an exciting Russian program, that). Now that alliance has to deal with Trump’s open hostility to anything foreign. NATO, another Trump target, has problems. They have to deal with Turkey – a full NATO member-state – invading a neighboring country. Turkey is seizing Kurdish land and possibly committing genocide. All with Trump’s permission. For his part, Trump has pulled America out of every foreign treaty he can touch. Trade deals, nuclear agreements, pollution standards, it doesn’t matter. Hell, Trump would abjure the metric system if he knew what it was.
And this is not just Russia at work. As bad as the Russian corruption might be, they’re not alone. Heck, the Chinese think Russian spies are clunking amateurs mucking things up for everyone else. After that, think about all the other countries that want to muck with American politics. Doesn’t the Trump family have a real estate deal in Azerbaijan? And Java? And didn’t both Qatar and the UAE volunteer to help Trump during his last election? Does anyone think Iran isn’t in the mix?
Mitch McConnell has steadfastly refused to allow any coordination, research, federal spending dedicated to election security, or anything to stop foreign interference.
Here’s the Republican nightmare. Imagine that Trump doesn’t suspend the next election. (You know he’ll want to, right?) Pretend our President also doesn’t declare war somewhere, so he can suspend some laws “for the duration.” Republicans can’t depend on Gerrymandering and voter suppression alone to keep themselves in power. Not any longer. And it’s not like they can run on their record of good governance. They can’t pass basic budget bills. They can’t even keep the lights on. On their record, they’re toast.
America needs a party that can speak for the conservatives who make up so much of our country. Who will that new party be? I mean that question honestly, for what it’s worth. The modern, corrupted GOP is disgraced; their brand debased too far to recover. They can’t honestly claim to be that voice when we know that their only real goal is “Win at any cost.” And America needs the benefits that real conservatives bring.
But who can take the GOP’s place?
