It seems to me that the Republican Party is at a crossroads. They have some important decisions to make. They have been taken over by the extremists – the mad Tea Party nutcases and Trumpist conspiracists. They have virtually ousted the genuine Republican conservatives. The party now represents the extreme groups – the KKK, neo-nazis, white supremacists, proud boys, and QAnon conspirators.
Now that Trump has stepped over the bounds and his popularity has dived they are left stranded. The party has been sullied and lost its moral basis. Too many of the politicians support mad conspiracy theories and have condoned immoral and even criminal behaviour.
It seems to me that they have a number of choices:
- They can go on as they are with the conservatives kowtowing to the dominant extremists and hope that the popularity bounces back;
- They can oust all the moderate conservatives and become an extreme far-right party;
- The conservatives can seize their party back from the extremists and reinstitute their traditional values;
- The party can split into two distinct parties.
This is a similar thing to what has happened in the UK with the Tory Party over Brexit. The Tory Party ousted all the moderate Tories, like Rory Stewart, Kenneth Clarke, Michael Hesseltine and Philip Hammond, as the extreme Brexiteers took over and it lurched to the right. Now that Brexit is over we’ll see what the repercussions are. Will the public support an extreme-right party or will they suffer for this sway to the right.
As someone who detests the callous selfishness of right-wing policies, their favouring of the elite and crippling of public services, I think this is great. The more extreme the Republicans and Tories become the less electable they are. I’d be happy to see them annihilated for ever!