In an interview with CBS correspondent Major Garrett for "The Takeout" podcast, presidential historian Jon Meacham lamented the accelerated decline of the Republican Party following the one-term presidency of Donald Trump and wondered if the party will ever return to its principles.

With the GOP undergoing an internal civil war centering on allegiance to Trump that looks to be leading to the ouster of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) from a leadership position, Meacham said the loudest voices in the Republican Party have become untethered from reality.

Noting that the Republican Party "has descended into fantasy, conspiracy and falsehoods," Meacham claimed the GOP was poised to lose touch by focusing on hot-button cultural issues and that Trump showed them the way.

"There was a lot of gasoline on the garage floor of the Republican Party, and Trump was a match," Meacham explained. "And that gasoline, I believe, is partly spilled partly because of almost 90 years of a kind of growing disenchantment with the way Republican presidents actually delivered for their conservative base."

The historian focused on the Jan 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and marveled at Republican officeholders who have dismissed it as old news when not questioning how bad it really was.

"We came as close to losing the country as we know it on January 6 as we have since the Civil War. And I say that with no hyperbole," he elaborated while noting one capitol rioter was able to flaunt the Confederate flag inside the U.S. Capitol and pointing out, "The Confederates didn't even get into the Capitol during the Civil War, but they did three months ago."

The historian also warned that race relations in the country appear to be getting worse, telling the CBS host, "We have not seen the last of the White reaction and backlash to a changing demographic and country."

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