After Trump What
AJ Robinson

After President Trump, will Pence and Cruz lead the GOP?

I admit it. I’m a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan. I started watching the show during the third season, lapsed and caught up on the earlier episodes in reruns. Of course, these days I can binge watch just about any show, but this was in the pre-streaming days of yore.

Buffy, the musical episode.

I remember one episode in particular: the musical. Yeah, Buffy and the gang sang and danced their way through one show. It turned out to be the work of a very special demon and the songs weren’t merely light fluff.

No, the songs revealed the inner most fears, desires and secrets, of the characters. That caused some real problems for their various relationships. The episode closed with them singing a rather sad song as they wondered, “Where do we go from here?”

I’ve been thinking the same thing about the Republican Party. My dad and I were Republicans and, in Massachusetts, that was practically an oxymoron, but we agreed with many of its core principles, such as fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, personal responsibility and so forth.

I left the GOP when it pretty much lost its mind. That was before it became the Party of the Great Orange. Yet, I still see its worth, as we need two viable parties to sustain our democracy.

With that in mind, I have to ask the question. What happens when Dumb Donald leaves office? I’m not saying impeached, despite deserving it; no, the republicans in Congress are far too spineless to ever stand up to him. Nor do I see the democrats winning enough seats to oust him.

Yet, there will come a time when he’ll have to leave. Even if, as terrifying as it might sound, he wins re-election, there will come a day when the Great Orange is gone. Then, I have to ask that same question Buffy and her gang asked. “Where do we go from here?”

After all, think about the heights to which the Republicans have taken the art of hypocrisy. They have abrogated, completely and totally, every single core value they ever claimed to abide. Take fiscal responsibility, the GOP passed a massive tax giveaway to the ultra-rich that’s going to blow a massive hole in the federal deficit, while, simultaneously, increasing spending.

Dippy Don and his trophy wife.

The GOP has no claim to the moral high ground. Nope, the part that chided Michelle Obama for daring to go out in public with her “guns” out acts as if Dippy Don and his trophy wife are June and Ward Cleaver. I’m not saying a man can’t marry three times, I’m not even saying a man can’t have a trophy wife. I’m not berating her for doing nude photos. What I believe is the evangelicals can’t have it both ways.

Support the troops, not in this era. Between cutting the pay of active duty personnel and slashing every programme, of every kind, that helps veterans, President Orange and his cronies have shown their contempt for the women and men most deserving of our respect and gratitude. Do they have a deep devotion for the country? Do they put America values first, ahead of all others? No, to all three and Republicans go so far as to openly praise people such as Putin and members of the base happily wear t-shirts saying they’d rather be Russian than a democrat.

Yes, Ronald Reagan must be spinning in his grave. With that in mind, I wonder, what, when the Orange Idiot goes back to Trump Tower, will the Republicans do? Then, it came to me. It’s quite simple and I’m surprised I didn’t see it sooner.

They’ll just go right back to where they were before he took office. There will be no change. The Republicans are riding out Trump, as is the rest of the world, save Russia, maybe.

The GOP will proclaim it is the party of fiscal responsibility and block any efforts by the next president to raise taxes, help the needy or repair our infrastructure. The GOP will re-plant its flag at the summit of moral superiority. They will chastise any men and, most especially, women that do not pass their morality test.

The base will applaud, loudly. The media won’t call them on it, but the rest of us will, for a reason I can’t fathom, let them get away with it. Now, you might think that’s impossible, how could they possibly have the temerity, the gall to do such a thing?

GOP lowers itself to any level.

Hey, they fell into lockstep with the Great Orange. Trust me. They’ll lower themselves to any level if it means retaining power. That is, after all, all they care about.