Trumpism is just the latest metastasized version of revanchism within the Republican party, as the TEA party was, and the John Birch Society before that. Trump just took advantage and pushed the envelope in more worrisome directions, but there are relatively frequent eruptions of the cancer that plagues the party, and our country. That anyone ever believed the TEA party was anything other than the rebirth of John Birch, or that the Federalist Society ever represented a legitimate school of thought is beyond me. I recognized both as "propaganda for the denigration of American values" the moment they sprang from their astroturf roots, fertilized by the crap spewed by the Kochs, Mercers, and Adelsons. and their ilk.

Any real reform party will grow from the middle, out, based upon core constitutional values. The Democratic party contains more of those elements, at present, but that wasn't always the case and is unlikely to remain so. But, the likelihood of the GOP resetting itself into any semblance of its old form recedes daily.

Ultimately, if we survive the current turmoil, I think there will be a resurgence of the Democratic party and democratic ideals. The United States polity is like a gyroscope - it is most stable when it is spinning around the axis of our core Constitutional principles, but begins to wobble as it loses momentum and focus. We are in a period of extreme wobble. But, just as events can throw us off-kilter, so too events can impart momentum to get us back to spinning on a stable axis.

The invasion of Ukraine, the insurrection, and the demise of Roe have been significant events reminding us of the fragility of our democracy and democratic norms. It is my view that the GOP has revealed itself as anti-democratic and craven to its core. Demographics will inevitably lead to the demise of its current iteration (although the structure of our federal government makes rooting out the infection difficult), because it is decidedly a party at war with the liberal values of urban America, which is expanding its reach.

A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.

Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich