Forum: Is The Republican Party Finished?

Every week, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: Is The Republican Party Finished?

 JoshuaPundit: Does anyone still doubt it? Here's the obituary:

They despise the majority of their own voters,  to the point they can't even support a nominee who got almost 50% of all the primary votes in a field of 17 candidates... to defeat Hillary Clinton!

Quiz time: How much money has the Republican National Committee donated to their Presidential nominees' campaign for ads this election? If you said zero, congrats! You win that made in China stuffed elephant.

They can be counted on to trash their own at the slightest opportunity. Let a Republican be accused, merely accused  of any wrongdoing or scandal in the media  and the Republicans can be counted on to lead the charge against them, especially on the media  no matter how contrived the evidence may be. Not only that, but they'll receive no penalty for that kind of disloyalty. The Democrats will stay alive because they do exactly the opposite. They circle the wagons around their own and send any Democrat who breaks with the pack into purgatory, as a warning to others.

They have zero understanding of how to exploit political power when they do get it, and are essentially self defeating. What other party would get record majorities in both houses of congress based on a tidal wave of loathing for Obama's agenda and do... wait for it...absolutely nothing but aid and abet that agenda? What other party but today's Republicans would suffer through four years of Democrat control of both houses where senate rules were broken repeatedly, including the nuclear option and refuse to use the same tactics in return, allowing Obama to put radical judges and appointees in power? What other party would fail to use the power of the purse to stop the wholesale importation of illegal migrants by executive order, something that will  be used undermine their majorities? What other party would allow a sitting president and his attorney general to laugh at them, break the law  and repeatedly ignore the Constitution?

There's more I could mention, but it's self evident that the GOP is dead. The rot started when Reagan left office and the Bushes took over the party, and is now in its final stages. Rather than an opposition party, they've become part of our Ruling Class, more interested in their own power and perks rather than the good of the country or the wishes of those who put them in office.

If Trump manages to get elected, he's going to be forced to use a lot of executive orders simply because the Republicans really wanted Mrs. Clinton and business as usual to win out and worked hard for it. They will fight him and impede him in a way they never fought or impeded Barack Obama, and with far less cause. He had better be prepared to build an entire new political party structure with the few remaining honest patriots in congress so the old order can be purged.

If Hillary Clinton is elected, that isn't going to save the GOP either. Not only will she destroy all but a remnant for comic villain purposes to be used at election time, but the millions of Americans inspired by Trump won't be coming back to the Republicans,ever. Lincoln's famous quote about the futility of trying to fool all of the people all of the time comes to mind.


Stately McDaniel Manor: Is the Republican Party finished? No political party lasts forever. However, as Ronald Reagan said, “The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this Earth is a government program.” The Democrat Party is a flimsily veiled criminal enterprise. An utter lack of morality, ethics, virtue and hatred for America and Americans are not disqualifiers for membership, but minimum qualifications. When Republicans are wounded on the field of battle, their leaders rush out not to help, but to bayonet them. When Democrats are in trouble, every Democrat closes around them, excuses, lies, fights, and does everything possible to protect them and each other. In that, the Democrats resemble an eternal government program. Republicans don’t.

Republicans know how to fight our enemies, and have the personal skills and corporate will to make our enemies fear us, and our allies trust us. Democrats know only how to attack and harm their fellow Americans, and embrace America’s most deadly enemies.

Political parties exist only as long as they have a coherent, easily understandable platform that meets the needs of its members and the nation. The contemporary Republican party now exists only for the benefit of it’s self-imagined elite rulers and their donors. Virtually the entire leadership of the party are Republicans in Name Only.

Out of power, they whined that they needed control of both houses of Congress before they could accomplish anything. We gave them that control and they accomplished virtually nothing. Having the power of the purse, the House of Representatives declined to use it. Facing Obama’s plot to make the Congress irrelevant, the Republicans slide complacently into irrelevancy with scarcely a whimper. Having the power to write laws, both houses did virtually nothing, whining that Mr. Obama had a veto. They allowed arrogant criminals heading federal agencies to insult and lie to them, and did nothing. Now they whine that without complete control of Congress and the White House, they can accomplish nothing. And with the prospect of a Trump presidency, they’re whining they won’t do anything he proposes. In fact, they’re sabotaging their own nominee, elected fairly by their own rules.

What, exactly, can Americans that honor the Constitution and believe in America go to see their beliefs furthered?

Around which principles can Republicans rally? When Republicans closely resemble Democrats, people will tend to vote for the real thing, rendering the Republican party a pale also ran. A Socialist Democrat Party must be opposed by a solidly conservative Republican Party. Anything less is far too weak to stand even the most tepid Media narratives. Far too many high-ranking Republicans have nothing but contempt for conservatives. The Republican Party is rapidly devolving into the Democrat Party of 30 years ago, while the Democrat long march through all of our institutions brings the glorious people’s revolution closer each day.

If, by some miracle, Donald Trump should take the White House, he’ll be fighting both parties. He may be able to get some Supreme Court nominees confirmed, and he may be able to get some of his proposals through the Congress, but he will never be able to enact the sweeping changes necessary to truly begin to reverse the horrific damage Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have wrought.

If Hillary Clinton wins, it’s all over. The Supreme Court will be lost for generations, and with it, the rule of law. America will lose even the pretense of borders, and a permanent Democrat voting majority will be established. Even if Republicans maintain majorities in the House and Senate, Hillary, like Obama, will have a veto, paralyzing them as they vote for more and more spending and debt, and as they allow Democrats to impose a single payer “health care” system on us all. This will, of course, require far higher taxes on the 47% that still pay income tax. Does anyone actually think Democrats will suddenly develop consciences, or will they turn the doling out of critical medical care into pay for play, which is their normal practice?

The Republican Party will continue into the foreseeable future, but it may never again be able to put anyone in the White House. Is the Republican Party finished? Perhaps the better question might be: is our Republic finished? If so, it will be contemporary Republicans leading the way to its destruction.

When they actually start coming for the guns--and they will--things are going to get very interesting, as in the ancient Chinese curse: “may you live in interesting times,” interesting.

Don Surber: The Party has never been stronger in Congress (not counting the Civil War) or at the state level. Prospects for keeping the Senate are pretty good despite the Herculean task of having to win 21 of 34 seats this year (20 if Trump wins).

But its failure to court its base imperils its future. There is a movement. Trump was the only one smart enough to join and wound up leading.

The status quo is dead. I hope.


The Glittering Eye : I'm not worried about the fate of the Republican Party. What history tells us is that political parties don't fail because they can't secure the White House.; They fail because they're just too darned much like the other party and there's no reason for them to continue to exist.

That's what happened to the Federalists. It's what happened to the Whigs. They became indistinguishable from the Democrats.

What's going on right now is the party ensuring its survival. The party establishment had become too much like the Democrats.

The real question now is what kind of party will it be? Right now it's too early to tell.


Laura Rambeau Lee, Right Reason :It appears the Republican Party as we have known it is finished. One thing the Tea Party accomplished was revealing the loss of conservative principles traditionally held within the party. Our attempts to actively participate within the Republican Party to restore conservatism and adherence to the foundational values of our constitutional republic have failed. The truth is neither party represents the American people any more. Progressives have infiltrated and corrupted both parties at every level. The parties are about power only, and we the people are being deceived into believing we have any say in the outcomes of elections or policies being implemented. We have permitted the rise of a ruling class in our country which must be reined in and eliminated.

Even if Donald Trump is elected president it is difficult to conceive of a revived Republican Party. He is not a fiscal or social conservative and does not represent constitutional conservatism. Hopefully a President Trump would stand strong on the Second Amendment and would appoint a more conservative justice or justices to the Supreme Court. But as for the Republican Party, I believe it no longer offers true conservatives any voice in how we are to be governed. We must form a new party and promote people to run for office who understand their role in governing as the founders intended, which is to represent and be the voice of the people who elected them, because #AmericaMatters.

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