The GOP Remains in Crisis
The Republican Party now faces one of the greatest identity crises in its history. Through a campaign filled with lies and misinformation, Donald Trump swindled America into giving him enough votes to win the electoral college, and brought the Republican Party into power with him. But now that the Republican Party is in power, it is faced with the much harder task of governing. As Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit Hamilton taught us, “Winning is easy, governing’s harder.”
The Republican Party is now filled by leaders as conflicted as they are obstinate. Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House, was overruled by his own party in their politically asinine campaign to gut the ethics office. The same goes for Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Rand Paul, once the golden son of libertarians nationwide, has been thrown to the wayside. Mitch McConnell, after criticizing Democrats for opposing extreme Supreme Court picks, (a much tamer version of the 293 day boycott that McConnell himself led on Merrick Garland), has been lambasted across the mainstream media for his hypocrisy. John McCain, the ideologically pure statesman, has said that while he could possibly eventually come to accept Trump’s Secretary of State pick Rex Tillerson, “There’s also a realistic scenario that pigs fly.” Poor Chris Christie has lost all respect and political capital. Ditto for the Bushes. This raucous and divided crowd forced John Boehner, once the eighth most conservative man in Washington, into early retirement.
Roger Ailes has been dethroned from his right wing pulpit at Fox News, Megyn Kelly is leaving, and lecherous Bill O’Reilly is reeling from his latest sexual assault case. Granted, the role of legitimate news is facing a similar identity crisis. Nevertheless, the Republicans will not have a fully-staffed Fox News to protect them as they stumble through this first term.
With the whole world watching, it seems that Republicans have no idea what they are doing. Donald Trump spent December bumbling through his Cabinet picks. Without even vetting the nominees, the Republicans are rushing nominees through the door to start the confirmation process without facing any intensive background checks. The unruly majority overruled their leaders and tried to gut the ethics office in secret, demonstrating an incredible misunderstanding of how the internet works. Meanwhile, Trump and his underlings are leading Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act without any replacement in place. 74 percent of Americans oppose this plan of action. The Republicans will not even listen to pleas for increased background checks for gun owners, opposing the 90% of Americans who support them. In every step of the way, the Republican Party stands fundamentally opposed to most of America.
Who will emerge as the shepherd for the lawless Republican caucus? Boehner tried and failed. Ryan and McCarthy can’t control their herd. Trump is not the answer. Rand Paul is fading into the background alongside McConnell and Lindsey Graham. Whatever happens, unless the party pulls its act together, its pigeon-toed, fumbling path will be a masochistically entertaining one to chart.