Angelina and Brad was a bad breakup. But, it'll be nothing compared to Trump and the Republican Party...
You had to figure the eventual breakup between Trump and the GOP was going to be ugly. Republican breakups have always been nasty affairs, chock full of tawdry scandal, graphic accusations, finger pointing and efforts to shred all the family photos, lest the next tenants learn what was really going on behind the doors of Apartment 1600.
The end result is that your typical Republican of a certain age won't acknowledge voting for George W. not once but twice. Him? Oh please, I never...Well, some portion of the GOP sure as hell climbed into bed with W. It wasn't black magic that got the man elected - Though a few Diebold voting machines may have played a role. Before that, you had Republicans dumping Herbert Walker Bush in droves, swooning over Ross Perot like he was Fabio on a Ritz fucking cracker.
What is going on within the GOP now though is something different, something altogether elevated. Perhaps never before in American history have we witnessed one Party's base give up so much to buy in so fully to the message of one Party leader. And, so it is that what we are now witnessing was bound to happen. Not a slipping away of trust. Not a gradual separation. But rather a sudden outright rejection. Which is understandable. This is the way that affairs must always end. The demeaned, gaslighted party comes home to some undeniable evidence of wrongdoing and, just like that, the roiling seas of cognitive dissonance part to reveal one clear path.
This isn't to say the last chapter has been written between these two. Of course not. All the stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance - have to play out among the GOP base and (to a lesser extent) the GOP establishment, most of whom have long since accepted the predatory nature of their relationship with Trump. A relationship's a hard thing to shake though...when you've so much history together.
= new reply since forum marked as read
