Will the republican party survive the 2016 election cycle? Certainly, at this point, it is looking increasingly unlikely with various factions within the party starting to attack one another. As one GOP strategist told The Hill, the republican party is “right now, in a raft navigating the political rapids — without any oars.” As Rick Tyler points out, the republican party is “splitting right before your eyes” with the GOP unlikely to exist in its current form after the 2016 election.
“It’s splitting right before your eyes. It’s happening now,” said Rick Tyler, who served as communications director for Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) presidential campaign.
“There is a civil war in the party that is going on right now. The question is whether, after the election, the party will be able to repair itself; or cease to exist; or continue to exist in some diminished way.”
Of course, Trump gets all the credit/blame, depending on your viewpoint, for the civil war raging within the republican party at the moment due to his ongoing feud with House Speaker Paul Ryan, among others. And, with tweets like the ones below, it’s not difficult to see why.
Paul Ryan, a man who doesn’t know how to win (including failed run four years ago), must start focusing on the budget, military, vets etc.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2016
Wow, interview released by Wikileakes shows “quid pro quo” in Crooked Hillary e-mail probe.Such a dishonest person – & Paul Ryan does zilch!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2016
The Democrats have a corrupt political machine pushing crooked Hillary Clinton. We have Paul Ryan, always fighting the Republican nominee!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2016
But the fact is that the Republican party has likely been doomed for a while now as the more conservative elements of the party have been drifting further and further apart from the establishment for several election cycles now. So while Trump may be the catalyst that has crystallized the republican civil war, he is certainly not the originator.
Be that as it may, the fact is that there is now a split developing which GOP strategist John Stipanovich thinks could put the republican party out of contention in national races for a decade as the party attempts to redefine its policy initiatives.
John ‘Mac’ Stipanovich, who has worked in Republican circles in Florida for 35 years, including as a senior advisor to Jeb Bush and chief of staff to former Gov. Bob Martinez, said that he thought “people of good intentions and goodwill may regain dominance in the Republican Party,” but that the process would take a long time.
“That may be a much-shrunken Republican Party,” Stipanovich said. “We may be about to enter a wilderness here in which we will wander for a decade or more, and hopefully emerge. But if that’s the case, then we need to wander. I personally don’t want to be in a party that is characterized by Trumpism.”
Others have also suggested that there is little hope for the republican party, at least as it is currently known, to re-emerge after the 2016 election cycle. GOP consultant Steve Schmidt, thinks that the republican party will be split into two factions after 2016, one “alt-right party” and another that is more “center-right.” Even Mitt Romeny recently admitted that it would be hard for the republican party to be “put back together again” after the 2016 election.
Some people have suggested that the party could split apart entirely. In an interview with Vox, published on Friday, GOP consultant Steve Schmidt predicted that an “alt-right party” and “a center-right conservative party” would emerge.
Also on Friday, 2012 nominee Mitt Romney said in a podcast interview that it would be “very difficult” for the Republican Party to be “put back together again” after the election. Romney’s remarks were first reported by Buzzfeed.
Tyler said that, while he harbors no great love for the current GOP establishment, a new party could be a dead-end.
Over the history of the Republic, he told The Hill, “all these parties have come and all these parties have gone.”
He added: “Why should I have a new party? I want to make the Republican Party the conservative, free market, freedom party. That’s its history.”
While the future of the republican party is unclear, what is clear is that the infighting between its various factions likely implies a sustained period of democrats in the White House.
via http://ift.tt/2eeTqSP Tyler Durden