Is the GOP worth saving?

[SigmatheZeta]

No, the GOP is not salvageable. They might not have been entirely beyond redemption during the 1980's, but ever since, they have made their living by catering to the whims of the most worthless people in the country.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

You can't save the undead.

 

[Politesse]

No. It is not.

What is there to save, even?

All praise the glorious one party rule!

So, "being one of two parties" is the only virtue you can think of for the Republican party?

I personally expect the Democrats and the Republicans to re-sort into two new parties after such happens.

Wouldn't be the first time this has happened, in fact. But our empire may have decayed past the point of such flexibilities; substantial reorganizations are a game for younger states, not crumbling giants.

 

[Ford]

The question isn't can it be saved? The question is, can it be stopped?

Maybe the best way of stopping it is to save it from itself.
I see little cracks opening, where the tiny seeds of the former GOP are starting to sprout and fracture the corrupt edifice of the Party of Trump. If Trump manages to get enough blatantly terrible candidates to win nominations, and then most of them lose... I think there would be a real sea-change. Of course that has yet to happen, but it could... at least on paper.

Here's the real problem: What they're doing now (being racist misogynist grifters that appeal to the worst parts of the electorate) is...

1. Easy
2. Working

Let's say that hogs become aerodynamic and the Cheney/Kinzinger/Romney axis regains control of the GOP and the Greene's Gaetz's , and Gosars are all sent packing. Would that help?

I would say no, because the "moderates" that are in the party now are the Tea Party of a decade ago. They're not moderate at all, and are just as corrupt but merely more circumspect about their schemes. The purge of actual moderates was wrapped up long before Trump was inspired to run by Obama ripping him onstage that one night. Reasonable conservatives who believe in government but just politely disagree with Democrats on how to run it are long gone. Policy ideas? They started being the "Party of No" in 2008 when the black guy took over, and haven't come up with anything other than "stir up the villagers" since. When was the last time a Republican actually had a policy proposal to improve the lives of Americans that made you think "okay, I guess we can work with them on that one?" The only concrete thing they have is tax cuts, but that's really just a giveaway to donors and another way to "starve the beast."

Policy is hard. Shouting at the border and scaremongering about white people being replaced is easy.
Plus between the gerrymandering and voter suppression, they're running dead even with the Democrats in the race for the House, they're probably going to take back the Senate, and if the alleged looming recession hits or they take both houses and obstruct everything, Biden will be a one term President...if he even wants a second term.

Would Trump defeat him? Maybe. Could someone like DeSantis? That would be even worse. In any case, the GOP isn't going to change because as of right now, being racist/misogynist grifters is a winning strategy.

 

[zorq]

I agree. There aren't any GOOD Republicans anymore. Many historians identify Newt Gingrich as the godfather of this adversarial, cut-throat, power at any cost version of the Republican party. Newt became speaker in 1989. After more than 30 years, any Republicans who actually want to govern have been replaced. They are gone. And there is no indication of a new more worthy incarnation on the horizon.

Plus, the basket of deplorables is too big and influential for Republicans to abandon them now. Any Republican candidate who renounces the deplorable faction of their base has no chance for election.

Republicans are locked in to a toxic culture of their own design for the entire forseeable future.

 

[prideandfall]

thing is, the GOP is a cultural club - it's a social group.
it's a big community circle-jerk that for some reason has been made responsible for for the governance of an enormous (both geographically, financially, and geo-politically) country, and it has absolutely no clue how to do that or intention of ever doing so.

if we just made twitter a 3rd party of our federal government, that would be identical to what the GOP is now.

there is nothing to 'save' in this context, there's no actual political governing body within the GOP - it's just a culture war that's responsible for overseeing almost 400 million people.

 

[marc]

Republicans are locked in to a toxic culture of their own design for the entire forseeable future.

I've been thinking for a while, the Republicans have two choices. Either renounce the crazies, in which case the party will shrink to barely anything, and it will take decades for them to grow again to a significant party. Or just go on as they are, embracing the racism. Which will maintain them in power for a while, but eventually demographic shifts will get to the point where all their gerrymandering won't keep them in office. At that point they either turn this into a dictatorship, or they get voted out permanently.