Veteran Atlanta journalist breaks down the 'degeneration' of the Republican Party in the era of Donald Trump

Veteran journalist Jay Bookman wrote an extensive thread on how the modern Republican Party has managed to deteriorate into an embarrassment and a catastrophe in the era of Donald Trump.

"The modern GOP has degenerated into a group of people who have agreed to tell each other and believe impossible but reassuring things, to the point that the willingness to eagerly believe all those impossible things has become the glue that holds a crumbling party together," began the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reporter.

When it comes to the issues like Mexico paying for the US border wall, the conspiracy theories about climate change and science and the GOP's scam tax bill, Republicans have tried to win arguments with absolute nonsense.

"It wasn't always like this. GOP leadership once understood that such things were nonsense, that you might say them but never act upon them, and it governed accordingly. But over time, those who knew such things to be basic nonsense were RINO'd out by those who do not," Bookman continued.

That's how the Republican Party ended up in the tiny-handed grasp of the president and others in the far-right.

"He has zero interest in whether the product he's selling can actually work; his sole concern is whether he can get you to buy it," he went on. "So a perfect match of conman and mark the GOP has also created a formidable media machine to enforce that belief in the impossible, to ensure no doubt or skepticism can creep in. Hannity, Coulter, Limbaugh, etc., act as powerful thought police, much as political commissars in the old Soviet Union once did."

Bookman's descriptions sound almost cult-like, with Republicans policing "thoughts and statements" because it's what "binds them together." If they don't do this, he explained that the entire party could "collapse."

"And today, it is faltering," he continued. "The responsibilities of actual governance have proved to be incompatible with continued belief in the nonsensical, putting the country in danger. And we find the perfect embodiment of that conflict sitting in the Oval Office. Republicans have agreed among each other to believe that Trump is a mighty leader literally ordained by God to rebuke the libs and lead them out of the wilderness. That belief has become central to the GOP identity, and none dare publicly question it."

Meanwhile, America sees proof of Trump's questionable morality and intellectually-challenged decision-making daily. He even lacks basic knowledge of how the government works and what the Constitution mandates.

"Most Republicans who admit that to themselves are not yet willing to admit it to each other, because ... what then?" Bookman asked. Well, when the responsibilities of governance have proved to be incompatible with continued belief in the nonsensical, isn't it possible -- difficult, but possible -- to drop that belief in the nonsensical and look again with clear eyes? Isn't that the start?"

Read his full Twitter comments here. .