The Republican Party is no longer the party of Lincoln. What happened?

(Charlotte, NC) — Eight score and nine years ago, the Republican Party was founded in Wisconsin on the values of abolitionism, ending the rule of the white man over the life of the black, and promoting equality across the nation. Republicans cared about the Americans and their daily needs. What happened to that? We went from Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Hayes; to Kari Lake, Donald Trump, JP Mandel, and Kristi "Dog-shooter" Noem. This sudden sharp turn in the political sphere of the GOP has caused a large political polarization nationwide, the likes of which we haven't seen in decades. What happened? As Norma Josephine Lynnswagger said "Are we closing the tent on the big tent?" .

The answer is no. We aren't. While authoritarian, reactionary rhetoric has overtaken the Republican Party in the form of a "populist" facade, A large chunk of the GOP is still honest, moderate, and, well, law-abiding. What happened to this group of so-called 'Republicans In Name Only'? Why have they been forced into a corner of their party, by a President who was a Democrat not so long ago?

Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski are two perfect examples of this phenomenon. Susan Collins, who's been a Senator for 31 years now, has been cast aside as one of the largest RINOs, with her colleagues Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney not far behind her. Loudmouth, arrogant, raucous, extremist, freshman Republicans have taken over the right-wing caucuses of both chambers of Congress and the RNC as a whole.

In the 2016 Republican Primary, the main candidates were Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich. This convention saw the insurgence of the far-right wing of the GOP come to life. The insurgent option was an unknown, and in American politics, when the other option is unknown, that's when people's true colors shine. The party of "moderates" slowly morphed into the party of "MAGA Patriots", "Compassionate Conservatives" soon became freedom caucus-aligned hypocrites, and the Republican Party of yesteryear were pushed out of their place and onto the streets.

Not a single Republican former President or Vice President would endorse Donald Trump, George H.W. Bush going so far as to cast his vote for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate in 2016. The real moderates distanced themselves from the impending doom of the GOP that is Donald Trump, and they have since been outcasted to a small portion of the party, that party which rightfully belongs to them.

The issue with the modern-day GOP is the fact that they have lost sight of right and wrong and instead have opted towards mercilessly defending Mango Mussolini at every twist and turn of his campaign, or, better yet, his private life. The Republican nominee for President is a convicted felon who has made inappropriate comments about his daughter, and has been photographed six dozen times with Jeffery Epstein, and yet the Republican Party cannot accept the fact that it's time to move on to someone else.

Newsflash! This is not normal! We haven't seen such rampant partisanship in the United States since Newt Gingrich was Speaker, and the MAGA Patriots make Tea Partiers look like moderate unifiers. The "what he says is our policy now" rhetoric of the Republican Party is directly complicit in the shattering of the Overton window. To root this out of our society's political structure is to wish for the death of MAGA, which is guaranteed to come just as soon as Trump steps back.

Trump has turned the Republican Party into his cult of personality, none of his disciples could replace him. Who could replace the god of MAGA? There are a lot of big names who have shown that they'll do anything to be the next "Champion of the people." Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kristi Noem, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis (who even went as far as to run against him for it), Josh Hawley, Mike Pompeo, Ted Cruz., e.t.c. . . Moderation when it comes to policy is thrown out of the window, and it really is just whatever he wants to hear that goes.