The Grand Old Party may be doomed

I didn’t watch the latest Republican debate because I had the feeling it would just end up a screaming match. Sometimes I hate it when I’m right. The reports of muck-slinging, vile insults and shouting were spattered all over the media as two of the candidates, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, ganged up on Donald Trump in a debate that turned into a verbal brawl. Commentators and pundits on both sides of the aisle agree, saying the foul performance was a new low for the Grand Old Party. I knew it was going to get ugly, but nothing like this ever came to my mind.

The question that came to me was this: Is the Republican party doomed? It appears to be imploding as some begin to realize correctly that they created a monster in the form of Mr. Trump — one of the party’s biggest mistakes. Rubio and Cruz did so very publicly, although it may prove to be too, little too late. (They’re not much better than Trump either.) It may come down to the GOP itself to dump Trump during its convention, an act that may bring the party of Lincoln down on its knees if it continues to fragment from within. After getting a ringing endorsement from David Duke, former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, with little reaction from Mr.Tump, this could be the course they must take.

On the other hand, it might support Trump in the end and fall even further down the pit as the true nature of the man is exposed for the world to see. Plunging the GOP into a fatal nose dive as their actions in support of him are also brought into the light of day. Thus making it a question of damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Basically the current crop of candidates from the GOP this political season were all big mistakes, especially the front runners. The fault lies with those that fell for promoting members of the cult of personality and not for people of reason, principle and ethics. This was not the first time this has happened, yet it may prove to be the last.

It begs the question of what will replace it if does go the way of the political dinosaur. Thanks to that unholy marriage to the Tea Party a few years ago that set up the party for a major fall. There should have been a divorce well before any of this mess came about. Now it’s too late, the crazies have taken over the runaway train setting the GOP on course for sailing off the rails. Sad to say the Tea Party stands a good chance of picking over the pieces of the carcass like the vultures they truly are. Creating a new political party from carrion meat scraped up. The end result of which could spark terror even in the hearts of the most conservative of Republicans.

Now before anyone suggests I’m rooting for this to happen, let me be up front and say you are dead wrong. I would be saddened by it, deeply so. The Republican party has done great and many things in the past. Starting out with the election of one of my personal heroes; Abraham Lincoln over a hundred fifty years ago. Yet if he were alive today he wouldn’t recognize what it has turned into or what it stands for because it has changed so much from his time. I have even voted for some Republicans over the years. One of them was Ronald Reagan. Surprised? Don’t be, it is what I like most about being independent.

We need them here to provide balance to our system of government. Even though it has been knocked askew by hardliners within the GOP. They have just forgotten this along with many other principles they once held, becoming lost along the way. They need to get their bearings to make it out of the swamp and back on to dry land. That is before it is too late.

It could well be the challenge of it all that could save the GOP from self-inflicted extinction. First off they’re going to have to take a long look in the mirror. The image reflected back will not be pretty, actually it will be downright ugly. But face it, they must in order to bring on the changes they need to take on. That alone will be the hardest task. I don’t envy them one bit in this, in fact I pity them.

I believe this has cost them the election. Whether or not the Republicans survive it intact is clearly up to them. All I can say from this point on is good luck, you’ll need it.

Daniel D. Grota is a retired U.S. Army veteran with over 21 years in service. He is also a Tuesday morning co-host on KVRF 89.5 FM, Radio Free Palmer. Write to him at news@frontiersman.com.