Conservatives vs the GOP

I'm old enough to recall a GOP dominated by conservatives. Back then, the Democratic Party was home to the Southern racists. Even Goldwater, who was pretty out there, could publicly call out the religious right. Howard Baker was a conservative without being a right-wing extremist. We used to call them Rockefeller Republicans.

Beginning with Nixon's Southern Strategy, the Southern racists migrated to the GOP, and with Reagan, the GOP abandoned the position of fiscal responsibility to embrace the phony supply side economics of the aptly named Art Laffer.

Now, the GOP is the party of Trumpism and the Democratic party is the conservative party. The take-no-prisoners extremism of today's GOP has taken on the coloration of the Bolsheviks in 1920s USSR, only with less violence (so far). There are a few rumblings of dissatisfaction in the GOP, but mostly behind the scenes. Too few Republicans have the testicularity to call out Trump for fear of the Trumpenproletariat. It's worth recalling that the Bolsheviks were a tiny minority in Russia when they seized power in 1917. When Hitler was appointed Chancellor, his was a minority party. When will Republicans disown Trump and become a responsible party again?

"In the last decade, the fringe elements within the party have increasingly dominated the GOP's narrative. This problem will persist unless the decent people of the Republican Party stand up, speak out and lead from a position of strength instead of fear. And the way to defeat fringe elements who instigate and launch primaries is to fight them. Full stop.

"Trump remains a dangerous political figure, despite his diminishing stature. But he and the extremists are outnumbered. The more good Republicans publicly speak out against extremism, the more likely Trump's grip on the GOP can be broken. It's called leadership, and it's liberating.

It certainly beats cowering in fear." https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/01/opinions/2013-government-shutdown-problem-with-gop-dent/index.html