The Republican Party is in turmoil, and has been for some time. The emergence of the worst presidential candidate in history, Donald Trump, is proof that the situation has worsened.
President Obama offered a short history of how the GOP has become a party of racists and extremists, and nominated a standard bearer without qualifications or a sense of morality.
It all began with the most serious mistake John McCain ever made; the selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Like Trump, she was totally unqualified, and spewed evil as she attacked everyone on the left side of the aisle. Her “folksy” style attracted poorly educated right wing men and women who sought a voice which would spread their own anger and hatred. Palin quickly had her own “basket of deplorables.”
“I see a straight line from the announcement of Sarah Palin as the vice-presidential nominee to what we see today in Donald Trump, the emergence of the Freedom Caucus, the tea party, and the shift in the center of gravity for the Republican Party,” Obama told New York Magazine.
The President is 100 percent correct. The TEA Party, or Freedom Caucus, whatever the extremists in Washington choose to call themselves, quickly began to take control of the Republican Party. Extremely weak leadership, primarily John Boehner, and Mitch McConnell, quickly surrendered to the new forces within their party.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus ignored the dangers presented by these extremists who quickly became obstructionists. His only concern was service to the Koch brothers who received priority over the American people and his party.
“Whether that changes, I think, will depend in part on the outcome of this election, but it’s also going to depend on the degree of self-reflection inside the Republican Party,” Mr. Obama continued. “There have been at least a couple of other times that I’ve said confidently that the fever is going to have to break, but it just seems to get worse.”
Now the GOP has become divided in three ways; the extremist groups, Trump supporters, and anti-Trump forces. I see no possible way to find party unification. Trump’s supporters represent the worst of America. Those who harbor hatred now have a voice. Trump has surrounded himself with men and women who believe in white supremacy, homophobia, and Islamophobia. They claim to support the Constitution, when in reality they would repeal the parts they reject.
The President also stated the fact that Republicans have placed their reelections and their party ahead of the nation and our people.
“I have very cordial relations with a lot of the Republican members. We can have really great conversations and arrive at a meeting of the minds on a range of policy issues, but if they think they’re going to lose seats or that they’re going to lose their own seat because the social media has declared that they sold out the Republican Party, then they won’t do it. That dynamic, I think, is going to be harder and harder to change because of the balkanization of the media, because of political gerrymandering,” he said.
“It is evident that Republicans pay a price for that narrowing of their perspective in presidential elections, but for the individual member of Congress in a 60 percent Republican district in Oklahoma or Arkansas or anyplace in the country, that doesn’t matter,” Obama continued. “What matters is that all his constituencies or her constituencies are watching Fox News and listening to Rush, and they’re going to pay a price if they’re seen as being too cozy with a Democratic president.”
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Op-Ed
By James Turnage
Follow me on twitter; @jamesturnagenov
The Truth With No Restrictions 