President Donald Trump has captured unprecedented control over the Republican Party, and it's not clear what the party will be after he inevitably exits the political stage.
In a new column published by the Bulwark, conservative author Jonathan Last examined how Trump has swallowed the GOP, and wondered whether his control would ever loosen.
"In late 2018, after the scope of the midterm losses became clear, two things happened," Last wrote. "First, the casualties of the midterm were precisely the Republicans who were most likely to rebel against Trump, so while the GOP lost the midterms, Trump emerged with a stronger hold on the party."
"With the midterm loss, Republicans tipped over into a place where the sunk costs were so great that they were no longer willing to challenge him on any matter," he added.
The weight of those sunk costs has grown heavier with each passing scandal, ensnaring the GOP more deeply with Trump's political fate.
"Trump primarily uses his political capital against other Republicans," Last wrote.
Democrats have no reason to fear Trump, but his attacks on fellow Republicans have helped preserve his grip on power despite losing the congressional majority and seeing his legislative agenda fall apart.
"The grim reality is that Trump needs Republican solidarity much more than he needs legislative accomplishments," Last wrote.
That grip doesn't seem likely to let up anytime soon.
"Either a year from now or five years from now, Donald Trump will step away from the presidency," Last wrote. "Raise your hand if you think he will retire to Mar-a-Lago and delete his Twitter account."
Last predicted that Trump would continue lobbing political attacks from his Twitter account and calling into cable news shows, so Republicans are stuck with him -- and his family -- for the foreseeable future.
"Early on people suspected that Ivanka Trump would one day try to take over for her father. But the last three years have shown that Don Jr. is his logical heir," Last wrote. "If you think Trump would retire to the countryside to let his children make their own way in the world, then you have not paid any attention, at all, to the history of this family."
