For

Depending on your political allegiance, it will either fill you with glee or sorrow to see the mighty institution of the Republican Party no longer being considered “the party of government”. To see it go from producing titanic figures of American politics such as Lincoln, Reagan, and both Bushes, to being a mere circus performing before the world’s baffled and amused gaze. America’s Embarrassment, a medieval court of obsequious concubines, all competing for the approval of that King who is the centre of their world, their sole focus. Worst of all, they make the Democrats seem unified and competent.

Yet that is what it has come to- the recent Speaker election debacle highlighting the depths to which that party has sunk, and proving their transformation from a party of ideology to a party that merely looks at what Democrats are saying and does the opposite, to its final resting place as a party of allegiance to one man. Trump’s domination of the GOP has now been made clearer than ever, as the two factions competing for the Speaker’s chair were not split on ideology- not really. It wasn’t Moderates vs Extremists- no one can seriously call McCarthy a moderate Republican, and Marjorie Taylor Greene supported him all the way. Nor was the election over a certain policy issue- it wasn’t about abortion, or taxes, or education. Nor can it really be seen as a power grab by the Freedom Caucus, although that was a side effect: after all, Matt Gaetz himself declared he had “run out of stuff to ask for”. 

No, the election was instead a proxy war over which faction could best claim to represent Trump and his legacy. Just like two children fighting over who is ‘the favourite child’, the two cliques of Republicans both craved to be the superior ‘pro-Trump’ camp. Matt Gaetz has often been labelled as a “top Trump ally”, and was sufficiently close to Trump to ask for a pardon in the last days of his presidency; Kevin McCarthy had the official backing of Trump and is a vociferous defender of him, so much so that Trump often calls him “my Kevin”.

Just like children calling in their parents to settle the argument on their side, Lauren Boebert called on Trump to “tell Kevin McCarthy you do not have the votes and it’s time to withdraw”; while McCarthy’s eventual victory only came after Trump personally rang the remaining Republican rebels and persuaded them to vote ‘present’. And what was his first act after becoming Speaker? To personally thank Trump, of course: “I do want to especially thank President Trump. I don’t think anybody should doubt his influence. He was with me from the beginning … he was all in.” What could better encapsulate his magnetic hold over what is now his party than the photo of Taylor Greene desperately holding out her phone with Trump on the line to a rebel, which could so easily be captioned: “daddy says it’s our turn on the Speaker’s chair”.

Trump’s influence over the party, despite holding no actual position, is still strong. After all, many of the Republican representatives in the House won their primary elections by claiming to be ‘MAGA Republicans’, most praised Trump’s achievements in their speeches, and those who could attached a photo of them with Trump on their posters. Ron DeSantis, a few months ago cited by nearly everyone in the land as ‘the next Republican President’, whose governorship of Florida was hailed as the prime example of conservative excellence, whose every speech was covered on major outlets, has now virtually disappeared from the limelight. Why? Because Trump mocked him as Ron DeSanctimonious, and strongly warned him against running for the Presidency. And just like that, no one publicly praises DeSantis anymore.

Whereas in Britain the Conservatives (used to) parade around their claim that ‘the Conservatives fixed the economy’; Republicans say ‘Trump fixed the economy’. While Biden, the actual President, can barely get Congress to vote his way, Trump’s chokehold over his party means that only one Republican served on the investigative committee for the January 6th fiasco. Though he may no longer be in the White House, Trump’s influence still holds strong, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, especially as he utilises his one talent- disruption- to the fullest in the upcoming Presidential primaries, and, who knows, perhaps even general election. 

Against

George W. Bush – the President turned Picasso – once elucidated a new thought to fellow authoritarian Tony Blair: that the French have no word for entrepreneur.  The question posed above conjured up thoughts of a similarly sempiternal truth.

Namely, that the media cannot see the forest for the Trump.

The Republican Party can easily be separated from the Donald – after all, their voters are more charitable, physically healthier, and more in tune with God than Democrats (yes, the first two things are also true) – whereas big DJT is a nihilistic show-boater.  They will get over him.  It’s harsh to say, but he’s also not as young as he was: his campaign this time round is already showing the near-octogenarian strain, and no one is excited about Eric and Don Junior taking up his mantle if he begins to falter.

And let us remember, back in 2016 this man lost to Ted Cruz in Iowa.  Let that sink in.  He lost to a man about whom a colleague, Senator Lindsay Graham, once said:

‘If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you’.

And that version of the Donald was Tip-Top Trump, the billionaire Apprentice star with impressions of disabled reporters and the Japanese, comments about female interviewers having ‘blood coming out of [their] whatever’, and questionable ideas about Mexicans.  A man uninterested in banning abortions, a pro-Social Security, pro-Medicare, and pro-Making America Great Again guy: enough goodies for the public that voters (and yes, this concerns me too) considered him to be the moderate candidate in the 2016 race.

New Donald, however, is rubbish – and has quite clearly lost whatever cloak of moderation he had: if his handpicked candidates in the midterms are anything to go by, he is the kiss of death for independent voters.  All he can do is mope at rallies about how he “won” an election he very much lost, whine to an ever-diminishing audience on the in-aptly named Truth Social, and lose again, and again, and again to Mitch McConnell in the turf war of who Americans hate the most. 

Which is a point in itself: Mitch McConnell is genuinely hated by the Republican base, and yet he is the longest-serving Senate leader ever.  He has been behind almost all Republican governance in the last decade-and-a-half, come successes fair or failures foul.  The Donald, erstwhile, has none of that star power: he may be loved by two-thirds of the base, but he only lasted one term in office, was a quarterback in all the failures but linesman at best in the successes, and managed to make Joe Biden look almost competent.

Joe Biden, by the way, is a man who got the FBI to raid Trump’s house for keeping classified documents, only to discover that his own house was flooded with them.  Either he’s playing a game of chess that Deep Blue wouldn’t be able to keep up with, or he’s just lost to himself at Snap.  The point being: he’s not a very strong opponent.

Ultimately, then, the Grand Old Party will get back to the Gipper, and give up on Trump.  They hate losing almost as much as the Tories, and don’t even suffer from a lack of policy like their true-blue cousins.  The only reason the media thinks they do is because they’re staring at Donald’s over-long ties, and not reading between the lines of legislation.

So therein lies my point, journalists.  Look at their policies, and do the separating yourselves.  Then you might find that the GOP makes a whole lot more sense.

P.S.  At the end here, I would like to congratulate myself for not mentioning Ron DeSantis even once.