When you don’t care as long as you get what you want (the GOP riding the Trump MAGA base)

I am not going out on a limb when I say the Republican Party ceased to exist sometime in 2016. There were no calling hours and no funeral. The Party passed quietly without much notice or fanfare. You see, those that were affected could divvy up the estate and go on as the Trump Party. I believe it was Donald Trump, Jr. who announced a year or two after 2016 that the GOP was now the Trump Party. That his father had completed the takeover.

What we have seen since is Republicans in name only, “Rhinos” but not in the same sense as Trump likes to accuse. These former Republicans are perfectly happy with the Trump takeover and are willing to go along for the “ride” as they are getting what they want – votes from the MAGA base, power, and money, and the fear of being “primaried” was a clear and real threat.

There remains a coalition of old guard Republicans, the “never Trumpers” if you want, that are what is left of the old GOP. These are the folks Trump likes to insult as “Rhinos.” They still adhere to the old party platform and try to keep their integrity as much as possible.

On one of the morning talk shows today, one of the pundits presented that about 1/4th of the Republican Party voters will not vote for Trump, that Trump is a guaranteed loser if the ghost of the GOP chooses to go into the 2024 election with Trump as their nominee. There will be down ballot damage as well under this scenario.

I am going to guess that the old-line GOP Republicans have gone along about as far as they can with their identities being stolen by the Trump/MAGA party. I think a third party is about to emerge that will be close to the old GOP and provide a place of comfort for those that still espouse Republican principles and are trying to preserve their integrity.

I think there will be some with zero integrity that will choose to ride the Trump/MAGA train for as long as they can and for as long as they get what they want from it, votes, power, and money. I think we all can match names with this crowd like Kevin McCarthy and Lindsey Graham for example. This is the group that “doesn’t care as long as they get what they want” – hence my title to this piece. It is fair to say they are strangers to integrity.