Soulless

For more than 30 years, the Republican Party represented itself as the party of God, country and family values. Many of us bought into this narrative, even if Republicans launched the disastrous invasion of Iraq and sometimes had sex with the wrong people (prostitutes, congressional pages, and people in airport lavatories, for example). Still, many of us clung fast to the Republicans’ narrative of patriotism and sanctimonious piety.

But that was before they nominated and then elected a thrice-married hedonist as president of the United States. Donald Trump dodged the Vietnam draft just as ably as he dodges his tax obligations, and his current defense of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin smacks of treason.

How have establishment Republicans responded to the Trump travesty? Having once fought him, they’ve now joined him. To cite but two examples, remember former Texas Gov. Rick Perry? He denounced Trump as a “cancer on conservatism” and a “barking carnival act.” Perry now directs the Department of Energy, one of three departments that he vowed to abolish when running for the Republican nomination in 2012! In a true sign of the times, the dim-witted Perry replaced Stanford-educated nuclear physicist Ernest Moniz.

And what of Mitt Romney, who so famously denounced Trump as “a phony, a fraud” and a misogynist this past March? Surely, Romney would have the dignity to steer clear of the Trumpian rot. Yet instead, he dined on sautéed frog legs and lamb chops with the self-proclaimed sexual predator in vain hopes of being appointed secretary of state.

Apparently, the party that once stood for God, country and family values now stands for nothing more than cynical careerism.

Since Nov. 8, the punditocracy has argued that the Democratic Party is in real trouble. Although Clinton won the popular vote and Republican gerrymandering is behind that party’s large House majority, the fact remains that the GOP controls Congress and the presidency as well as most state legislatures and governors’ seats. Without question, the Democratic Party is due for some soul-searching. But at least the Democrats still have a soul.