The question for Never Trumpers- and America

There has been discussion about whether the Republicans, lacking  moral credibility in the wake of the Trump administration, might "go the way of the Whigs."

In England, the word "Whig" had been used as a derogatory term for the Liberal Party, coming from a Scottish Gaelic word referring to horse thieves and Presbyterians (seriously). It carried the connotation of "maverick," or "renegade." This is confusing because the American Whigs were the conservative party of their day.

The American Whig Party arose in opposition to Andrew Jackson, more or less as the Never Trump movement arose in opposition to Donald Trump. The party broke apart along sectional lines over slavery. It was succeeded in the short term by the much smaller Know-Nothing (anti-slavery but also anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic), and Free Soil (anti-slavery but not necessarily anti-anybody but slaveholders) parties and other factions. Some of these eventually evolved into the Republicans. The Republicans were the original name of the Democrats.

Got that?

Slavish obedience to Donald Trump, like slavery for the Whigs, is a non-negotiable issue. The majority of the Republicans are pro-Trump, but it's doubtful whether the GOP can survive the loss of the minority and still remain a viable national party.

The Democrats survived and stayed united both in the Eighteenth Century and today by putting unity and compromise above all else, which is why they are the longest-surviving political party in the world. The result is a somewhat chaotic bunch of whom Will Rogers once said, "I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat."

The anti-Trump segment of the Republican Party is divided today over whether to join the Democrats or start a new party like the Republicans were in the Eighteenth Century based on traditional conservatism. Like slavery, Donald Trump and his version of reality is a binary, either-or issue. The main questions are 1) can social conservatives find a home in a Democratic Party that seems to be moving leftward ideologically; 2) whether a third party is a practical and viable option, and 3) whether our democracy can survive without a center-right party, and without a credible opposition party to the Democrats.

The overwhelming majority of the Never Trump leadership seems to think that a third party is impractical and either wants to join the Democrats or wage an almost certainly hopeless fight for the soul of the Republican Party. The latter sees Trumpism (defined as loyalty to Trump) as a temporary phenomenon that will disappear with Trump himself. The former (among whom I number myself) see the damage Trump has done to the Republican Party and to the integrity of its leadership as too severe and massive for it to survive Trump.

After Jackson left the scene, the Whigs lost their rationale for existing. The question now is whether the Never Trump movement will lose its justification for existing once Trump personally disappears. Moderate Republican leaders seem to think so.

Given what the rank-and-file of the Republican Party has shown itself to be in its support of Trump, my reaction is to ask what difference it makes. Whatever else Donald Trump has done, he has exposed the GOP for what it is and for what I have spent decades arguing that it was not.

For me, it's hard to see it as deserving to continue to exist, and the question is where I can find a place to stand.

Later- perhaps later today- I'll do an entry on the problem I see with our just becoming Democrats.