It makes me a bit itchy when we already start writing the post-mortems for the post-Trump GOP before the election makes that a reality. But Chait lays out the two paths for the GOP going forward from an election that sees them lose Texas and Georgia. As Chait notes, the "Conservative" movement is in fact a reactionary, populist insurgency that exists off "Cleek's Law," namely "modern conservatism believe in the opposite of whatever liberals believe; it is updated every 15 minutes." There have been more than a few Republicans who have signed on to Trump's manifest unfitness for office precisely because of how much his treasonous, incompetent corruption angers liberals.
If America had Eisenhower's Republican Party (or David Cameron's Conservative Party), it would be a good thing. Democrats would likely inch further to the left - which is fine - and elections would no longer be existential crises, but rather a competition over who could best provide reasonable public goods at reasonable expense. It's worth noting, however, that Eisenhower only came to be after 20 years of complete Democratic control of the national government, and Nixon's relative domestic moderation was a product of complete Democratic control of Congress. Nixon simply would not have been elected if not for Vietnam and racist backlash against the Civil Rights movement.
The country has been trending away from GOP policies since the 1990s. Polling on the issues is clear on this. The GOP still exists as a major party because of racial and cultural resentment and because of the unique structure of the Senate and the Electoral College that gives undue weight to white, rural America. If a Biden Administration and Democratic Senate can pass truly meaningful election reforms, their path to power could be pretty narrow. I think it will take another long exodus in the desert before the GOP ever becomes a party that can be trusted with power again.
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