EJ Dionne goes about as far as nice NPR-listening pundit can go in pointing out that the GOP went insane at some point during the first Bush Administration. He noted the violation of the no-new-taxes pledge as the moment the GOP lost its moorings (which was signaled by Gingrich's no-holds-barred brand of politics).
I think he missed the critical moment - it was the rise of Pat Buchanan. Looking back, we can see in Buchanan a forerunner of Trump. He was the angry, xenophobic, racist populist before Trump. Trump merely managed to catch the right moment to take Buchanan's schtick to the next level.
The GOP has given itself over to the John Birch Society. Once that was unthinkable.
Now we will have to see if it's survivable.
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