The Republican Party has no past

It's a given that the Democratic convention will feature a bunch of elder statesmen and luminaries. Expect to see Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Al Gore, and Nancy Pelosi. Jimmy Carter won't be there, but I wouldn't be surprised if his daughter or grandson was given a speaking role.

Contrast this with the Republican convention. Where were George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Mitch McConnell, and Kevin McCarthy? It's as if the GOP has no past, just the present, and the present is nothing but Trump. And a party with no past has no future. One day, Trump will be out of the picture, and there won't be anything left of the once-vibrant party he managed to turn into a personality cult.

It may not happen this year - Trump could still win another term. But it's inevitable. And anyone who thinks JD Vance is capable of carrying the torch of Trumpism into the future isn't paying attention.

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Dignaga

I know, I am in full agreement with you.

Abraham Lincoln started with no party precedent for President, was against all this radical democratic hatred and racism that was tearing the country apart, and like you said, he failed, because republicans had no past, and therefore no future. He lost the election, Democrats rewrote the constituion legalizing slavery in all 50 states, and publically whipped all the abolitionists to teach them a lesson.

Donald Trump should learn from this lesson, know his place, and kiss the heels of his social betters.

LeopoldBloom · M

@Dignaga Talk about missing the point.

When Lincoln joined the Republican party, it had no past because it was new, dummy. There were no elder statesmen or party luminaries. The difference between then and now is that the Republican party does have a history, and elder statesmen and luminaries, which the Trump cult has chosen to ignore.

Trump managed to take over the party and turn it into a wholly-owned expression of his personal will. He did this because he embodies the hollow core of bigotry and hatred that has characterized the GOP since the days of Ronald Reagan. Trump just ripped the cover of pretense off.

Trump can't live forever. What do you think will happen to the party when he's gone? Do you see some other individual taking his place? I don't see anyone with his unique ability to appeal to the party's base - definitely not a phony like JD Vance, who 90% of you never heard of until Trump tapped him, and certainly none of his pathetic children. I'm looking forward to the day when that orange cancer finally croaks and the GOP tears itself to pieces, like a wheel without a hub.

The smooth transfer of power in the Democratic party from Biden to Harris is how it's supposed to work - a party of ideas, not drooling worship of one person.

Dignaga

@LeopoldBloom Democrats have less personalities than Republicans do. Trump is a moderate populist, as I pointed out elsewhere, he is left of the old Democratic Blue Dogs that were still popular in the North East 20 years ago. You just need someone willing to talk to the people and get to know their needs and concerns, and to the bad guys in washington who hate the American people. Trump did that. It's why he is winning. You think Crony-Ideological politics carry the day. For a mainstream populist, you gotta be a bit of a rebel to catch people's attention in a time of clear moral decay and decadence, when the average man is suffering and is being ignored by party elites. Every Democracy, heck every Monarchy too, needs that stubborn as hell reformist leader who fights to reshape the state to keep it relevant.

As long as there is a appetite for substantial reform, you'll have a opprotunity for someone to fill Trump's shoes. He's a phenomena of the decayed state of the old right and the horrid left. Kamala isn't doing better and everyone else looks like a bad choice too, and they have a histoey going back to the Anti-Federalist Papers. Most people hate them. Trumo could of easily of been a Democrat and done this.

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