A long-time GOP operative warned on Sunday that his party is facing an existential crisis as the conservative parts of the party give way to President Donald Trump's extremist followers, and that could have massive implications for American society going forward.
Mike Madrid, author of "The Great Transformation" on Substack, argued in a new essay that there has been a "complete collapse" in the relationship between Republicanism and Conservatism, one that Trump filled with "populist nationalism and bigger, stronger government." And that collapse could have serious ramifications, he warned.
"The old GOP is dead much the same way as the Whigs left the scene," Madrid wrote. "There is no coming back. Second, the Democratic party is the conservative party today - at least in the Burkean sense - as the guardian of institutions against populist destruction and countercultural institutional attack manifested in today's GOP. If you think Reagan was a precursor to Trump, I would submit you have a very elementary understanding of what’s happening to our society - let alone our political system."
Madrid argued that the disappearance of conservatives from the Republican Party could render government unable to address some of the most pressing issues the country faces, like the threat to liberty that is posed by tech companies.
"We are struggling to address this century's problems with last century's ideas. If the American experiment is to be saved, the Democratic Party must focus on securing and protecting us from the emergent threat - no other policies matter until that is hardwired into the system," Madrid wrote. "As for the Republicans? Well, they gave up in November 2016 when they capitulated on everything they believed in, with the false hope that they would be saved simply by not losing power."
"First they lost their soul. Then their party. Now we’re perilously close to losing the country because they see it as lost already," he added.