The Republican Party: Dead as we know it

Here lies the Republican Party, dead after less than a year under President Donald Trump.

The party had a lot of ups and downs over its long history, especially in recent years, but now the Republican Party is dead as a doornail, and it’s all because of one powerful, tan, angry individual.

Trump and his pseudopolitics have taken the “Party of Lincoln” and turned it into the mockery it is today: the “Party of Pepe.”

It feels like just yesterday that liberals and I were mocked after Election Day for our reliance on Hillary Clinton to win big against the monster we thought could never garner enough votes to become president.

Much of the laughter toward Democrats seemed to be followed by happy reminders that the Democratic Party was dead after relying too much on one powerful family and its donors to keep liberals in the White House.

We lost big in November and continue to lose big every time Trump tears down another Obama-era policy. The Democratic Party has shown that despite making huge mistakes over the years, it will not die. Instead, it thrives the most when it seems to be at its weakest.

With the 2018 elections on the horizon, Democratic bases are scrambling to feed off of the pain inflicted by Trump and turn it into major victories.

Republicans, meanwhile, have resorted to protecting a pedophile to gain one seat in the Senate and have found ways of protecting every asinine thing Trump does.

Although many Republicans, such as Sen. Mitch McConnell and other prominent conservative figures, have condemned Roy Moore and asked him to step down, the consensus seems to be to allow him to run to maintain control of as many seats as possible.

This is a man that was ostensibly banned from a mall, wrote in young girl’s yearbook and preyed on children for years while supposedly upholding the law. Moore is the furthest thing from the Christian and conservative values he claims to represent, yet he still sits atop his mountain of white privilege, waiting for the election in one of the most conservative states in the country.

This is what the Republican Party is now, but that isn’t all that has murdered the once prominent organization.

Slowly but surely, Trump has hacked away at any decency left in the party. The list runs too long to mention each item, but it’s worth looking at some of Trump’s greatest hits over the last year.

From betraying the LGBTQ community by creating a religious executive order and attempting to ban the transgender community from the military to his most recent comment in front of Native Americans referring to Sen. Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas, Trump has been one giant mistake after another.

The phrase “you get what you asked for” could not be more apparent than with Trump. You wanted him? You can have him.

Every single stupid thing that comes out of his mouth and every stupid decision that leads to more pain and suffering to your fellow Americans is yours to own, Republicans.

Trump in all his anger toward our first black president has made it his mission to destroy Obama’s legacy and everything he built while he was in office. It started small when Trump first took office by getting rid of things like environmental regulations, but it has escalated quickly to attempting — and failing — to get rid of Obamacare and implementing a new conservative plan that will eventually kick millions off of their medical insurance.

That’s just at the top of his list. Trump is determined to tear down Obama’s legacy, and the Republican Party has given him the golden pen to do just that.

With year one almost in the books, we have seen another change in how we look at conservatives. Holding much better seats at the table are the “alt-right” and neo-Nazis. The once-fringe groups have clung to the First Amendment to spew their messages of hatred and have found a home with the Republican Party, whether they like it or not.

Starting on message boards around the country, the internet trolls we thought were harmless now have a platform and a huge following. This is the final nail in the coffin for the once “value-oriented” party.

The mixture of neo-Nazi conservatives with the Trump presidency has absolutely killed the idea of the Republican Party as it once was. Now, we have some sad mixture of conservative ideas led by nationalism instead of hard work like the Republicans of yore.

To those of you who voted for Trump, I hope you know that we will not forget you as we spend years trying to fix the mess caused by possibly the worst presidency of all time.

Sports editor Frank Campos is a media production senior and can be reached at [email protected]