Longtime Republican flees the GOP because their only goal is infuriating Democrats

Longtime Republican Party member Stephen Kent this week decided to leave his party -- and he said that the high-fiving after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation was the final straw.

Writing in USA Today, Kent laments that the GOP under Trump has mostly given up on delivering positive achievements for Americans and has now devolved into the world's most powerful organization of internet trolls.

The most recent example of this, he said, was the exuberant celebration of Kavanaugh's confirmation despite facing what he believed to be credible allegations of sexual assault.

"Kavanaugh didn’t have to be the Republican’s be-all, end-all in pursuit of 'owning the libs,'" he writes. "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's success in getting Kavanaugh across the finish line despite sexual assault allegations was not the kind of moment where’d you’d expect a victory party. Yet the popping of corks ensued anyway across social media and hotel bars throughout D.C."

Kent writes that he had stayed with the GOP until now because he was convinced that the rot within it was limited to President Donald Trump. Seeing the party rally around Kavanaugh, however, showed him that Trump is merely a symptom and not the cause.

"At the end of the day, your affiliations and associations should bring you a sense of pride," he writes. "And there was nothing dignified about this win for Republicans."

Read the whole op-ed here.