I’m so sick of these headlines.

They remind me of the endless headlines over the years (decades, actually) of how the Republican party is ready to collapse or implode or explode or insert-other-ominous-word-here.

As with all those failed predictions of the GOP going the way of the dodo bird, until I see Trump in an orange jumpsuit I won’t believe any of the shit they claim will happen.

@Hazdaz I kind of feel like the GOP has imploded, though. Since Trump especially (and really I think this strain of anti-democracy conservativism dates back to the 2000 election where they saw that they could just bully their way into stealing elections), there doesn't seem to be much of the Republican Party that preceeded him left. Now it's all antidemocratic fascists and nutjobs. Just because they call themselves Republicans and win elections doesn't mean their politics really has anything to do with what their party stands for on paper.

I think it's more a case of being careful what you wish for. Yes, they imploded. Yes, they don't really exist anymore. What has supplanted them is so much worse

@YoBuckStopsHere

I really hate this perspective. It’s just plain wrong.

Trump DID NOT change the Republican party. He only made them think the mask was no longer necessary. They’ve been pro war, pro tax cuts, pro business, pro rich, pro racism… for literally decades.

Yeah, I feel like the Republican Party has evolved (or devolved) into what they are now, but it’s not like they hadn’t already been moving in this direction anyways, he accelerated it if anything. Trump took advantage of a Party that wanted a “strongman”, he brought the racism, billionaire businessman background, toxic masculinity and performances you might normally see in wrestling back room drama or talk radio, and a feigned devotion to the Church (that was probably his weakest trait, thus Mike Pence). He brought together a lot of elements of the Republican Party that were already all there, just not really ever focused in one person with such a shitty moral compass and motivation to take advantage of the GOP. Pre-Trump, the GOP has mostly had boring business people like George Bush, Mitt Romney, Bob Dole, and Newt Gingrich and others, nobody really “inspiring” to them like Ronald Reagan.