The Republican Party is no longer just the stupid party; it's confirmed its status as the garbage party

 Justin Stapely, who writes the Substack newsletter Self-Evident, sees everything about the political landscape at this moment as I do - save for one conclusion. He understands that Trumpism is a sewer of cult-worship and incoherence and that what is happening to Liz Cheney is a travesty. He is a defender of free markets, foundational American institutions, traditional morality and ordered liberty. 

And I have struggled with what he has already concluded. He thinks the Republican Party can be rescued from Trumpism. 

I wish so fervently that this cause had even a miniscule chance, but my doubt grows exponentially by the moment. I do not scoff at him for it. I respect it a great deal, but it looks hopelessly quixotic to me now:

Justin Stapley

@JustinWStapley

Let me be clear: I will fight for conservatism in the Republican Party until it reasserts its traditional values or until a credible, concrete alternative presents itself. I'm holding my ground and I will not budge, not for the Trumpists and not for the naysayers.

Justin Stapley

@JustinWStapley

Replying to 

@JustinWStapley

I have said time & time again: I'm done listening to the voices of defeatism who turn every battle into the final one. I'm going to fight. I'm going to fight, sweat, & bleed, and maybe even fall down, but then I'll get up and fight some more.

Heath Mayo is a Texas attorney and anti-Trumpism conservative who founded Principles First about two years ago.  I'm involved. I attend its nationwide Zoom sessions and intend to go to this year's summit in Washington D.C. in October.

The last Zoom session had as its guest Michael Wood, the Texas 6th district congressional candidate who, as we now know, did not do well enough in the runoff to continue. During the session, someone asked Wood about the prospect of leaving the Republican Party and building a new one from the ground up. He said that maybe after the 2022 election cycle the fate of the GOP would be so clear that he'd get on board with such an enterprise, but for the time being intended to give the GOP one last shot.

Mayo had not, to date, weighed in with utter certainty on which way he thought conservatives should go. A tweet he sent out today, however, strongly indicates that he thinks the GOP deserves to die and, in any event, is going to:

Heath Mayo

@HeathMayo

A party that doesn’t live in reality won’t long survive—and shouldn’t.

I'm inclined to see things Mayo's way at this point. A party that does not vociferously denounce Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz but is determined to topple Liz Cheney from her position as the third highest-ranking House Republican, simply for stating the truth - that the election was not rigged and that there must be a full reckoning regarding January 6th - is a party given over to garbage. 

I mention the four in the preceding paragraph by name to establish what is the nutcase element in the party. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy would surely like to distance himself from the likes of them, and it's true he's not a nut. He is a coward, sycophant and opportunist. He wants so much to be Speaker that he's hitching his wagon to what is surely the way to Republican political success next year, making the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring of the Very Stable Genius mere weeks after shouting into the phone to the VSG from the besieged Capitol on the afternoon of January 6th, "Do you know who the fuck you're talking to?"

And now he's on board with cutting Cheney loose:

Kevin McCarthy says he has “lost confidence” in Liz Cheney in comments he made on a hot mic, according to a report.

“I think she’s got real problems,” the Republican House minority leader said about his colleague during an off-air moment in an appearance on Fox News, Axios reports, citing a recording made of the exchange with a host.

“I’ve had it with ... I’ve had it with her. You know, I’ve lost confidence. ... Well, someone just has to bring a motion, but I assume that will probably take place,” Mr McCarthy told Steve Doocy before a live interview on Fox and Friends.

And what of the woman who would replace Cheney in her position? She bought the lie about the election:

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) on Monday said she would join the growing coalition of GOP lawmakers who plan to object to Congress's certification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory on Wednesday.

"I do not take this action lightly," Stefanik said in a video posted on Twitter on Monday. "I am acting to protect our democratic process. Article II in the 12th Amendment of the Constitution make clear that I have an obligation to act on this matter if I believe there are serious questions with respect to the presidential election."

For me, there's been no disappointment that approaches heartbreak nearly so closely as seeing the transformation of Ted Cruz over the last five years. He was my hands-down favorite among the 2016 slate of presidential candidates, primarily due to his list of 25 cabinet-level departments and independent federal agencies he'd dismantle. No one else was speaking with that kind of clarity. I considered what went down in Indianapolis on May 3 one of the great tragedies of American political history. No more. He's shown since his loss in the Indiana primary that his fortitude and fealty to principles could easily crumble. He went from saying Trump was a pathological liar and a narcissist the likes of which this country had never seen in a public figure to making the Mar-a-Lago trek a la McCarthy and Nikki Haley (who has said that she'd step aside if Trump decided to run in 2024).

The Kool-Aid-besotted die-hards still use the "he's-a-fighter" line to explain why they continue to be thrilled by this lunatic charlatan. 

I'm sorry, but this kind of rhetoric goes beyond any decent person's notion of what kind of "fighting" is acceptable:

This is the ranting of a delusional big baby. 

Note the resentment-drenched mention of Mike Pence. Then recall Pence's remarks on the municipal airport tarmac in Columbus, Indiana upon returning home on January 20. The first thing he said was how thankful he was to Trump and his trophy wife Melania for four years of stewardship of the country. What a pathetic little lapdog. And to think he is also someone I once admired greatly.

I understand what a Herculean task starting a new party is going to be. It means finding donors that can ensure national viability. It means going toe-to-toe with Trumpism in a more fierce way than has been the intra-party case to date. It means constantly weeding out elements that aren't going to fit. It means building a grassroots organization, convincing erstwhile Republicans on the municipal and county levels to abandon ship and come aboard the new project.

I just don't see how the Republican Party can be rescued. Except for Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, Larry Hogan, Ben Sasse and a handful of others, it is wholly given over to nuts, sycophants and cowards. 

And that's not going to cut it in the struggle against the leftist infection of post-America. Let us not forget that the other major party is also garbage.