An Assessment of GOP Turmoil

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/580418-real-conservatives-must-make-a-choice

At present there are few voices willing to call out Trumpism for its lack of conservative credentials. Abandoning any coherent ideology, the GOP has slipped into a kind of crude self-affirming tribalism centered on the person of Trump himself.

While the commentary avoided the f-word (fascism) it nevertheless sounded the warning, that social and fiscal conservatives are on the verge of losing their place in the American political spectrum. The Trumpite GOP (and all figures indicate it's now his party) will not tolerate the presence of any dissenters.

The article quotes Evangelical figures like Tony Perkins, Albert Mohler, and Russell Moore. Perkins remains in good standing in the Evangelical world. Moore had already made enemies during the Obama era and was blacklisted once Trump entered the scene. Moore was one of the few voices that spoke in clear moral terms – Christians cannot support Trump.

Mohler's position is more complicated. Long associated with Moore, Mohler has pursued his own path – supporting Trump even while critical of him. The same is true with regard to the discussions on race and social justice. Mohler is a Right-wing figure but not far right enough for the Trumpian politicos and the new Trumpite theologians and prophets.

A Right-wing Trumpite nonetheless, Mohler is still labeled as a Marxist by some of the extremists within the movement. It just shows how far things have progressed.

Another point the article did not pursue was that while the Trumpite wave appears close to claiming another national victory in the 2022 mid-terms and perhaps in 2024 – at the same time the party's internal divisions, schisms, and growing number of defectors risks bringing the whole thing down in spectacular fashion. The Trumpites are in the process of appropriating the entire apparatus, the massive Republican machine but if the money starts bleeding off and numbers drop – even a little – then defeat is likely at the ballot box.

If Trumpism guts and destroys the Republican Party and then it collapses and implodes – what then?

That's the great irony here. They may be within reach of victory (whatever that actually means) only to see it all melt away right before their eyes. And then the Party (whatever that happens to mean by then) will have to start over and rebuild and yet you can be sure it won't be the same.

And what of all the disaffected Trumpites? Where will they fall within the political spectrum? It's a real scenario that has to be reckoned with but one that's hard to imagine, and it's even harder to imagine how it would play out, because along the way there's bound to be some dramatic and radical developments that will change the equation all over again.

My concern is not for the Republican Party. I have no affection for it, or any other party, or for that matter the American system. My concern is for the Church which has all but allied itself and in other cases identified itself with the GOP. These events drive me to think a step or two ahead. There are many possibilities but I'm afraid none of them are good. The road ahead is going to be difficult. In addition to confusion and Christians with confused identities, we're facing apostasy and violence, and in other cases disaffection, anger, and misguided bitterness. What's needed is repentance but the hirelings that fill the pulpits are afraid to speak out – for the schism is at their doorsteps and even in their pews. They're holding their congregations together by their silence and their refusal to speak – at a time when discernment is needed more than ever. Most of them don't have the discernment and others (I believe) are afraid. They've been part of a movement that has become symbiotic with the GOP and Right-wing politics and now that the danger is acute there's no easy way to disentangle themselves from it.