How did the Republican party get into the condition it’s in today? And where is it headed? Let’s start by looking at what was being said in 1964 and in 1950, in a book that I was assigned to read in a Government (a.k.a. political science) course. That book is The Future of the Republican Party, by Robert J. Donovan, published in 1964.
Here is one representative excerpt, quoting Cordell Hull, Secretary of State from 1933 to 1944, in a 1950 comment:
Hull agreed with that analysis and was despondent. “It has long been understood that the Republicans never support a worthy cause until forced by public sentiment. Too stupid to devise and enact wholesome laws and to formulate and execute sound administrative policies, this piratical organization is wont to wait until Democrats point the way,” he said in a speech on the floor.
Today, of course, the Republican party is totally under the sway of Donald J. Trump. It’s the one party that rules them all, controlling the presidency, the Supreme Court, and (though barely) both houses of Congress. More importantly, they have forsaken their traditional values, with only a sprinkling of Republican politicians supporting those values out loud. Was that predicted 75 years ago? Could it have been?
The answer, of course, is no, it wasn’t predicted — and probably couldn’t have been. We know that “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition,” but that is more or less what we’ve got. Of course that’s an exaggeration, as all satire is, but it’s in the right spirit.
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