If you aren’t one of the three folks who actually listen to me from time to time, you may not have heard me rant about a ‘party system shift’. It’s nothing particularly new to American politics. Depending on who you ask we’re due for Number 6 or Number 7. Personally, I think we’re on 6.5 but let’s just go with 7.
Everyone is familiar with our two party system. What most folks aren’t aware of is that those parties collapse once in a while. Sometimes only one collapses but usually both do within a few years of each other. This is why no one asks you to Vote Whig or Federalist nowadays.
Over the last century and a half we’ve gotten in the habit of just naming the new parties some variant of Republican or Democrat. Yes, there was the one time we had the Democrat-Republican Party. I’m hoping they will adopt the Microsoft naming system from here on out with everything being sequentially numbered while pointlessly mentioning that ‘point 0’ after the number. Republican 8.0 has a silly ring to it, doesn’t it?
Okay, technically, it should be Republican 5.0 but the whole thing is confusing enough without adding accuracy into the mix.
Well, they have to name it something. I kinda like Patriot Party but now’s a bad time for that particular name. Regardless, it’s no longer the same Republican Party.
By my estimation, it collapsed about three months ago when Trump started walking away with the party nomination. Let’s face it, the party was in tatters by 2023. Decades of letting the Democrats win rather than fight because the social conservatives making up the lion’s share of the party’s base might actually insist on change if the party actually wielded power when it held it had left a badly disaffected base that Trump had no difficulty speaking to and for.
The hysterical overreaction to Trump’s 2016 election pretty well sealed the fate of both parties. If the Swamp was half as smart as it thinks it is, they’d have just played along with Trump, let him serve out his terms and then gone back to business as usual. Sure, Trump would have made some significant changes but only if he was backed by a strong party would those changes survive the next few administrations.
It’s been the Republican Playbook for nearly three decades. Evidently, they got bored with it. When the Democrats panicked, the Republicans decided to dance along to the music. Bad choice.
I had expected the Democrats to go down first. Their ‘big tent’ is on fire, but the Republican leadership decided to have a ‘hold my beer’ moment. Siding against your base is suicide. Guess they missed the memo.
The problem was that the Old School GOP still perceived itself as upper crust elitists, fiscally conservative but too sophisticated to be socially conservative. That and they like cocktail parties where Christian and Family values are unwelcome.
They put up a heck of a fight to save their legacy party from the socially conservative rabble. Never mind that Reagan’s administration had staked that old vampire in the Eighties. By George, the Republican Leadership was going to preserve their gentleman’s club party.
Trump wasn’t the wrecking ball. Trump was just the final straw.
The base had changed and the party could no longer manage to control the unruly rabble by merely not being as leftist as the Democrats. The cracks were showing in the Eighties. By 2016 you could drive a truck through those cracks. That truck just happened to be named Trump.
So how do I know the Republican Party has collapsed? Besides the fact that Lara Trump just took over as party co-chair and is cleaning house? The real break came in January when the party could no longer effectively fundraise. A political party exists solely to support its member candidates as they seek office. That takes money. A broke political party is a former political party.
Simple, really.
What now? Well, you kiddies are in for a real treat – and the scariest ride of your lives – a real live functioning two party system. Welcome to American politics the American Way. Buckle up, it’s always a bumpy ride!
It’s not just that Trump has taken over the party – he has, make no mistake – but those much maligned social conservatives in all their family loving, Christian glory, have pushed the brandy swishers out of power and largely out of the party.
Expect hysteria to ensue.
The Democrats and the Never Trumpers will both go even more out of their minds. I don’t think any of them are even still in the same state with their minds as it is, but here we go anyhow.
Last night Trump sewed up the Republican Party Nomination for President. Barely anyone noticed as we wait with bated breath for the decision out of Fulton County. Will the judge put his political career before the oath he swore? Will Fani get a new cell phone? Oh, the suspense.
More concerning was the Republican representative from Colorado Ken Buck, who was already retiring but decided he couldn’t wait until the end of his term after all. Will the Democrats retake the House before the election and use it to subvert the results?
They’d certainly like to as nothing else has worked. Seriously, we used to complain that Reagan was made of Teflon but he has nothing on Trump. Four indictments made Trump far more popular than he would have been without them.
We do seem to be living in interesting times.
Before you lose hope, just remember, the biggest hurdle in Trump’s way was the Republican Party. That hurdle is gone now, replaced by a much more vibrant, energized party that has every intention of fighting for their country to the bitter end. This is what a two party system should look like. Long live the new Republican Party.
Whatever the heck we end up calling it.
