originally, the first Republican Party -- the Party of Lincoln -- was progressive, but their positions changed. Only a few decades ago, the Party still stood for something Americans could identify with -- fiscal conservatism, traditional family and Christian values, law & order, and service to country while still preserving individual freedoms. Today's Republican Party has made a mockery of all those things.

my father voted for Nixon, so as a kid, I was on board with that. One of my earliest and clearest political memories was his Watergate scandal -- you know, when Republican voters and Congress still cared about maintaining an ethical posture. Nixon was forced to step down by his own Party.

who's to blame for their new look? I'll tell you how i'd rank the culprits. I'm interested in your rankings...

the Republican Party decay over 30 years, as i remember it:

1. Blacks, Hispanics, Gays, and women were making strides in society.

2. Rush Limbaugh gave white male listeners a bold, racist rant to listen to during their daily traffic grind to work.

3. FOX News took those divisive sound BITES and added 24 hour video -- in a bright, colorful studio with handsome, articulate men in suits and news-model women in short skirts to ogle while their fears were manipulated to keep them tuning in and buying from corporate sponsors.

4. The G.W.Bush campaign leveraged Republican officials in Florida and conservative judges on the Supreme Court to stop the recount of election 2000 (I recall a continued WP recount indicated Gore won). The Gore campaign and DNC gracefully conceded without further investigation. It was the beginning of the Dems ongoing, "when they go low, we go high" approach.

5. Despite the 9/11 terrorist being Saudi Arabians, Dems did not have the courage to oppose Bush's Afghan War. And despite outed lies of "weapons of mass destruction" they went along with his "shock & awe" Iraq War. It led to W's re-election.

6. Americans were so hungry for change and integrity that they elected a Black man named Barrack Hussein Obama for 2 terms. But Obama had the White-Right seething, despite him presiding moderately.

7. Bernie Sanders momentum as a change-candidate, was handicapped by the DNC in favor of Washington insider, Hillary Clinton. (4 years later, Bernie would again "feel the Bern" when Dem leaders circled the wagon around a faltering Joe Biden to prevent Sanders from locking up the Primary).

8. Before Obama left office he let the Republican leader block his Supreme Court nominee, and kept quiet about Russian election interference, assuming Hillary had the election in the bag. A bag loaded with her opponent's scandals -- which were not fully exploited (see 4. "going high").

9. Despite GOP Senators showing signs they might turn on the scandalous, would-be Lyin' King, Dems passed early on impeachment talk, with leader Pelosi declaring it was "off the table" when they took back Congress. So began the Dems "let him fall on his own sword" campaign. On CNN her response to the Dems low approval rating, Pelosi replied, "at least our approval is higher than the Republicans." The "just be better than them" strategy is still alive today.

10. Republican Senators learned that their voters would, indeed, stick with their Prez-a-King even if he "shot someone on 5th avenue" so they also stuck with him through 2 impeachments, an insurrection, and about a hundred other scandals that would have doomed any Dem politician (see Al Franken).

11. By the time Obama's Dept of Justice realized the Lyin' King wouldn't fall on his own sword his criminal prosecution and conviction was too late.

12. Despite serious election irregularities, no Democrat in office dares speak of 2024 "election rigging."

thus, the order of most blame for the ethical and moral decay of the Republican Party, as i see it:

1. FOX News

2. Republican Voters

3. Money corrupted election system

4. Republican GOP, House & Senate

5. Social networks and internet bubbles

6. The Lyin' King

7. Weak Democratic Party

FOX poisoned the sensibilities of Republican voters, politicians and judges. Those judges allowed money to corrupt elections and elect corrupt congresspeople. Internet bubbles accelerated the dumbing-down. The Lyin' King thrived. But if it wasn't him, it would be some other damaged extremist because the Dems play it too safe & cozy with donors to nominate their own change-agent. They won't take on the corrupted system they successfully navigated to secure their own seats in office.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CY1ARsXfA/

The current state of the GOP can be mostly attributed to cuts in public education, and the subsequent decay of our public school system. We have been dumbed down enough to where there are enough low intelligent, simpletons that the GOP media can wrap around their little figure to make the elections close enough so the richest man in the world can order a few switches and clicks to determine our president.

In the November 21, 2025 edition of the New Yorker Radio Hour, host Adam Howard interviews "former MAGA warrior" Rich Logis, now the founder of Leaving MAGA. Skip to the 1:35 mark in the 24:01 podcast to avoid the necessary but annoying ads.

"I’m not a therapist or a clinician, but there’s a lot of pain within MAGA. And I think that a better question of asking 'What’s wrong with you?' in MAGA, I think a better question is ‘'What happened to you?' . . . As part of [former MAGA members] taking responsibility [for their past actions and rhetoric], as part of a reclamation of humanity and individuality, what happens is something I refer to as becoming a born-again human being . . . Leaving MAGA was good for my soul and my psyche . . .” -- Rich Logis

I think I've heard of this guy and this program before, good luck to him, he's going to need it with them. It really is no different than people leaving a cult and getting deprogrammed, or leaving evangelical religion for either no religion or something less extreme. In all those cases, it is a huge emotional crisis for them, and the complete loss of a former identity, as well as their whole tribal circle. Few people have the guts and strength to handle all that, so few people ever leave those kind of groups. More often, they only leave the group after being already rejected by their group or even banished from it. I personally want nothing to do with anyone in MAGA, and even after they leave MAGA, until, like any addict in a 12-step program, they have done the necessary self reflection, admission of their wrongs, made their amends, etc. and reclaimed themselves. Until then, they deserve no acceptance in society, as far as I'm concerned, and certainly none from me. And even then, they need to prove again that they can be trusted, before we should forgive them for their past sins..

I read a couple of the stories by folks who left MAGA. To me, the authors seemed sincere and genuine. So, I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt, applaud them for "seeing the light," and not permanently "cancel" them.

One MAGA escapee shared the following philosophy, which came from one of her employers, a "very wealthy" Republican. To me, it correlates with the belief "if you are not a liberal when you are young, you have no heart. If you are not a conservative when you are old, you have no brain."

"When you’re younger, you’re a Democrat because you want a better world for everyone. But when you’re older, you’ll learn. You’ll get smarter and you’ll become a Republican when you learn how the world really works. When it comes to having money in your pocket, it will make sense to be a Republican."

I'm old, but I still have a brain., and have learned how the world really works, sadly enough. But I still never learned to be greedy or selfish, so I remain a proud socialist. If others choose differently, that's their right, but it doesn't mean I have to like them or agree with them.. I guess that's why I've seldom been friends with any Repubs, and would also never date one of them, almost never voted for any of them either..