Althouse: "In fact, Trump killed the old Republican Party and now he alone animates the zombie party that lurched forward after its death."

October 24, 2019

"In fact, Trump killed the old Republican Party and now he alone animates the zombie party that lurched forward after its death."

Writes Charles M. Blow in "Donald Trump, Life of a Zombie Party/And an army is blindly following" (NYT).

Yes, Blow is always against Trump, but it's a good line. It fits within a concept I've been tracking under the tag "what Trump did to the GOP."

75 comments:

rhhardin said...: Zombies with a sense of humor and a goal.; 10/24/19, 5:40 AM
The Tangerine Tornado said...: Of its good then Charles M. Blow didn't write it.; 10/24/19, 5:46 AM
Narayanan said...: Then Trump has done great service to USA democracy.; 10/24/19, 5:47 AM
gilbar said...: Well, Assuming that that's the case...
The Democrats have NOTHING To Worry About; 'cause Zombies only attack people with BRAINS!; 10/24/19, 5:47 AM
PB said...: "Blindly following" better describes Democrats.; 10/24/19, 5:56 AM
Kevin said...: Trump killed the old GOP by tweeting at it.

In doing so he exposed the one-party state that had always been running things.; 10/24/19, 6:00 AM
Mr. Forward said...: Whistleblowers and witches
Leakers and snitches
That's not a Zombie
That was Mitt Romney.; 10/24/19, 6:04 AM
RMc said...: It's funny how it's only the Bad Guys who are "blindly following" what they believe in. Meanwhile, us, the Good Guys, follow with our eyes wide open!; 10/24/19, 6:06 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I have a corresponding tag for the Democrats, Democratic Party in Trumpland.; 10/24/19, 6:18 AM
tim in vermont said...: Isn’t the blind person the one who voluntarily closed his mind three years ago? Isn’t that the zombie?

In case you are wondering if that is a serious question, no, it’s not. The closed minded person is the zombie.; 10/24/19, 6:24 AM
tim in vermont said...: Another stupid thing is that they seem to want to force Trump to resign, because they know that a trial is going to make the Democrats look bad and show the never Trumpers for clueless fools. But New York State wants to put Trump in prison based on some creative prosecution, so they have foreclosed that option to him anyway.

But it’s Trump who is throwing out the norms. At least with Hillary, you could point to black letter laws that she violated supporting the chants of “Lock her up!"; 10/24/19, 6:27 AM
stevew said...: Charles Blow, and lots of other Left wing talking heads and opinion writers, are secretly wishing for the continuation of Trump's presidency and a victory in 2020. His presence, and that of his followers, gives him an abundance of material and steady, no heavy lifting, work.

I do agree though that Trump has rebuilt and focused the GOP, and see that as a good thing. He hasn't quite killed the old one though, see: Mitt Romney, etc., they are the zombies.; 10/24/19, 6:28 AM
Lyle said...: We are deplorable zombies, but they are human scum!

It's a cliche now, but Trump is a lot like Andrew Jackson, but for the Democrat party.; 10/24/19, 6:30 AM
tim in vermont said...: The old GOP couldn’t win a national election against Hillary Fucking Clinton. They would have kissed her hem as they gracefully lost. But the concession speech would have been glorious!; 10/24/19, 6:31 AM
wendybar said...: Because he gave them a spine???; 10/24/19, 6:31 AM
tommyesq said...: Trump didn't kill the old Republican Party - GOPe'rs like Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney and John McCain took care of that years ago, and killed off the Tea Party movement to make sure the old Republican Party stayed dead.; 10/24/19, 6:33 AM
Tank said...: Blow is, of course, as always, totally wrong.

Trump is a direct result of what the Republican Party has been doing to its supporters for years. The Republican Party committed suicide.; 10/24/19, 6:34 AM
Skeptical Voter said...: Blow knows from Zombie Brains.; 10/24/19, 6:36 AM
whitney said...: I agree with this. But essentially he destroyed both parties. What comes next has not really been seen yet because everyone's still wearing the carcasses; 10/24/19, 6:37 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Calling it "the Old Republican Party" implies there are 2, an old one and a new one. The old one is indeed lurching a long like a zombie. But it isn't animated by Trump. Trump animates a vigorous new Republican Party with it's eyes open like never before.; 10/24/19, 6:43 AM
Temujin said...: Another day, another NYTimes opinionator telling us about the Republican Party or how conservatives should behave.

Gotcha.; 10/24/19, 6:44 AM
Breezy said...: We elected this Disruptor-in-Chief for this very reason, Mr. Blow. He’s hitting the reset button on the whole enterprise ... which is long overdue. No “blindly following” going on. It’s all done on purpose.; 10/24/19, 6:45 AM
Anonymous said...: Trump didn't kill the GOP, the Bushes and McCain did with spineless platitudes covering their inner Progressive. Trump is only raising what's left from the ashes of 30 years worth of Failure theater.; 10/24/19, 6:52 AM
Darrell said...: Trump exposed the rotten parts. Now we have to cut them out.; 10/24/19, 6:57 AM
iowan2 said...: Political parties die all the time. So what? The Party dies when it no longer represents the desire of the people. Or in this case, the Party refuses to follow its own platform.

The Never Trumpers are mad that President Trump has done more to advance Republican Party Platform that any President...ever, I guess.; 10/24/19, 7:05 AM
Kate Danaher said...: And in Britain there is talk of a Zombie Parliament
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9917800/oliver-letwin-zombie-parliament-boris-johnson-election/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/06/tory-mps-say-labours-election-delay-will-lead-zombie-parliament/; 10/24/19, 7:05 AM
gilbar said...: Stevew points out, that Trump...
hasn't quite killed the old one though, see: Mitt Romney, etc., they are the zombies.

Hard to Kill the Undead; takes a double tap. Hopefully 2020 will Be our double tap; 10/24/19, 7:13 AM
PJ said...: “In fact,” says Blow, then he makes something up and the Times prints it. Call it journalism.; 10/24/19, 7:23 AM
tim maguire said...: He's right about everything but the word "zombie." That more appropriately describes the Democrats. But to note it would require honesty, of which Charles Blow is incapable.; 10/24/19, 7:28 AM
Hagar said...: and how about "What Trump did to the Democrat Party?"

If you think of Trump as an asteroid impact, the fallout and resulting world-wide forest fires, etc., has affected everybody.; 10/24/19, 7:30 AM
Christy said...: But who can do that for the Democrats? Will it take 40 years wandering lost among the AOCs, Betos, and Schiffs to find a Democrat who loves, strike that, who respects the American people of every gender, color, and geography?; 10/24/19, 7:36 AM
Drago said...: Whenever I want to learn more about what is happening to the republican party in terms of their beliefs and needs at the grassroots level across the US, I always turn to far left career hack writers at the NYT.; 10/24/19, 7:46 AM
AllenS said...: The old GOP needed a good killin'.; 10/24/19, 7:48 AM
MadTownGuy said...: "In fact, Trump killed the old Republican Party and now he alone animates the zombie party that lurched forward after its death."

Yet he likely supports Zombie Biden and, if she runs (I use the word figuratively), Zombie Hillary.; 10/24/19, 7:59 AM
tommyesq said...: Question - what current party more resembles that party 40 years ago - Republican under Trump or Democrat under Pelosi/Sanders/AOC/Warren?; 10/24/19, 7:59 AM
rehajm said...: The analogy Blows.. Political parties are amoebas, ebbing and flowing with each new current; 10/24/19, 8:17 AM
wild chicken said...: Meanwhile, here in flyover, GOP candidates are scuffling, pushing, shoving, crawling over each other for that Dream Office because they think Trump's coattails just might sweep them in come Nov 2020.; 10/24/19, 8:26 AM
Kay said...: Seems like the Donald is changing the rhetoric of the party in major ways. In some ways, he’s making it worse, but in a lot of other key ways he’s making it better.

For instance, I’m very shocked to hear conservatives taking anti-war stances these days (especially after the Bush years), but it’s a good thing they’re starting to talk this way. Anyway, that’s only one example.; 10/24/19, 8:26 AM
mockturtle said...: Not long ago the GOP was saying they wanted a bigger tent. LOL!; 10/24/19, 8:32 AM
n.n said...: Trump restored order in the Republican party, and forced a schism in the Democrat party. The good, the bad, and unqualified progress.; 10/24/19, 8:33 AM
Wince said...: In actuality, according to industry sources hasn't Trump been the anti-zombie movie president?

People have speculated for some tie that zombie movies thrive in bad economic times.

It's Democrats like Blow who are reanimating this Hollywood "symbol of societal dread—guaranteeing this undead subgenre will probably keep shambling along for longer than any other horror craze."; 10/24/19, 8:40 AM
James Pawlak said...: I did not support the candidacy of Donald J. Trump until after he was democratically (Without "Super Delegates") and honestly (Without the fraud inflicted by H. Clinton on other Democrats) by my Party.
He is the "Voice Of The People" who voted for him and who were (And are) very, very, tired of the too many, self-serving, RINOs.; 10/24/19, 8:47 AM
Sebastian said...: Lefty projection again.

They really do believe in party discipline and punish deviants. No deplorable blindly follows anyone--not Bush, not Mitt, and now not Trump. What would it mean to "follow" him?

Lefties also misunderstand how righties think about the GOP, going back well before DJT: with a mixture of dislike, discontent, and dismay. Trump exploited the disconnect and brought a few discontented former Dems into the fold. A healthy party would not have been vulnerable to the Trump takeover.

Lefties underestimate the reasons for Trump support. Apart from spending, Trump governs more conservatively than any conservative expected, so his support among Not-Never-Trumper regular righties has increased. We also see the outrageous attempts to undermine and delegitimate him, and by implication undo our votes, starting with the Russia hoax coup, and that has increased sympathy for Trump.

But the GOP did and does contain many Mittens and Jebs, especially among officials and donors, so while exploiting the old disconnect Trump has also created a new one.; 10/24/19, 8:56 AM
Einfahrt said...: Trump: My thoughts and prayers are with all who mourn the "unexpected" suicide of the old GOP.; 10/24/19, 8:57 AM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: My gosh, such frustration at no longer being able to control public opinion. Just keep stamping your feet and throwing tantrum after tantrum. That's bound to win people over.; 10/24/19, 9:04 AM
Seeing Red said...: It’s like the US is one big high school and the populars found out they’re not so popular. And they’re losing the KingQueen vote.; 10/24/19, 9:17 AM
tim in vermont said...: "For instance, I’m very shocked to hear conservatives taking anti-war stances these days “

“You live, you learn.” - Alannis Morriset

What’s funny is seeing the Democrats turn into chickenhawks.; 10/24/19, 9:19 AM
Michael K said...: More concern trolling.

The Whigs failed because they could not deal with the question of slavery. A new Republican Party arose from the ashes.

This time, the old Republican party cannot deal with the administrative state and the uniparty corruption. Hopefully, the transition will be complete by November 2020. The Democrats fear it to be the case, hence the impeachment farce.

If it fails, we will see another Civil War. Perhaps a less violent one as described in James Bennett's America 3.0.; 10/24/19, 9:36 AM
Rusty said...: "For instance, I’m very shocked to hear conservatives taking anti-war stances these days “
Why? We've always been anti war, but if you're going to get us into one, fight it to win it.; 10/24/19, 9:42 AM
mockturtle said...: What’s funny is seeing the Democrats turn into chickenhawks.

I'm old enough to remember Senator Henry 'Scoop' Jackson. The Dems were always the war party--at least until the Age of Neocons.; 10/24/19, 9:44 AM
DarkHelmet said...: Tommyesq is on point:

"Question - what current party more resembles that party 40 years ago - Republican under Trump or Democrat under Pelosi/Sanders/AOC/Warren?"

I would say Trump has changed the GOP in some ways -- a greater willingness to stand up to China and a more realistic attitude toward unchecked immigration across the southern border.

But I would say Trump has also become much more 'Republican' over the last three years. He is adhering to traditional Republican positions in many more areas than I expected.

It's been a two-way street, in other words. Meanwhile the Dems have dashed to the left as fast as their legs will carry them. The 1992 Bill Clinton platform would be lambasted by 2019 Democrat opinion-makers. Heck the 2008 Obama platform wouldn't pass muster with the likes of Sanders, Warren or AOC. Obama used to say that marriage was between one man and one woman, after all. That sentiment is beyond the pale for 2019 Democrats.; 10/24/19, 9:45 AM
Francisco D said...: Who cares what Charles Blow has to say?

The Republican party is at a crossroads. Will they splinter into never Trumpers with a fake conservative agenda and Trump supporters who fight socialism?

The media will have us believe that the latter will guarantee future success. It will guarantee creeping socialism with leftists gaining more and more power. At some point, there will cease to be a conservative/libertarian opposition.

It is a brave new world.; 10/24/19, 9:51 AM
Big Mike said...: To his enormous credit, Donald Trump recognized that there was a need for a party that paid attention to the needs of working people and small business owners. Democrats had abandoned the former in favor of their identity politics, and a party that proclaims "you didn't build that" doesn't get the problems and plain hard work it takes to make a go of a small business. And Republicans preferred their Chamber of Commerce types -- people who dictate to the Republicans and then contribute to the Democrats. Country Club Republicans and Chamber of Commerce people can get with the program or get out.; 10/24/19, 9:52 AM
Michael said...: What Trump is "killing" is the Lapdog Caucus among Republicans.; 10/24/19, 9:55 AM
Unknown said...: He wants them fully dead, not zombies.

Zombies could write his column, same thing for years.

He'd like to shame the Republicans into doing his bidding. Used to work, maybe one more column will...; 10/24/19, 9:59 AM
Sam L. said...: Yeah, the GOP: Satisfied by just going along for the ride. I hope Trump can insert spines into GOPers.; 10/24/19, 10:11 AM
Yancey Ward said...: The Republican Party has been a zombie party since at least the Winter of 1998-99. They had a brief revival in 2010-2015 fueled by the Tea Party movement, but that movement was co-opted and killed by both the Obama IRS and the GOP elite who still filled the leadership ranks in the House and the Senate, and this was confirmed by the horrid omnibus bill passed by the GOP controlled House and Senate during the last year of Obama's presidency. This is why Trump got so much traction against the GOP elite primary field in 2015-2016- the voters were fed up with sending Republicans to D.C. and getting nothing to show for it except for some Supreme Court judges of sometimes questionable judicial philosophy.

Trump's voters are standing behind him, and this makes unlikely that the Senate will convict him, but it isn't impossible. There are still quite a few zombie GOP elites in the Senate who might be persuaded against political self-interest to vote for conviction and removal. In other words, you might be able to bribe them. However, if they, Republicans for conviction, think conviction is politically survivable, then they are just fucking stupid. Any Republican senator who votes for conviction is toast at their next election- they will either lose in the primary, or they will lose at the general election.

I did a quick count the other day of which senators would vote for conviction, and I came up with only Romney and Murkowski. Murkowski is, practically speaking, a Democrat when you get right down to it, and Romney is just a NeverTrumper of long standing, and won't be running for reelection in any case- he only ran in 2018 so that he could vote against Trump in an impeachment trial. There may be the odd ball Republican in the Senate who knows they have ran their last race, and so feels free to give rein to their anti-Trumpism, but there can't be more than 4-5 total. Additionally, I doubt you will see Manchin or Jones vote for conviction on the present evidence. So, if Trump is impeached by the House, I predict the Senate trial will be 50-50, at a minimum, and could be as high as 60-40 in Trump's favor.

It isn't enough to have polling favoring impeachment of even 60-40 (it isn't anywhere close to that anyway). Polarization has Democrats favoring it 95-5, so that would mean everyone else would be disfavoring it by a large margin. To impeach, you need polls favoring it on the order of 75% or more- it really does have to be a bipartisan thing because it will be seen as pure political bias otherwise.; 10/24/19, 10:13 AM
elkh1 said...: Trump did not kill the Republican Party. The Republican Party has slowly turned into the Zombie Party since after Reagan. Some of us call it the Stupid Party. Calling it the Zombie Party is funnier.

Previous Hitler presidents made it deader, Hitler Trump blows life to it. The 60 million of us, zombies, who voted for him are grateful. Now we flex our zombie muscles to strike stakes into the hearts of elitist vampires who are sucking our country dry.; 10/24/19, 10:20 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: “What’s funny is seeing the Democrats turn into chickenhawks.”

I think that it is time that we address this issue. We have been reducing the number of our active military now for a half century, since Nixon effectively won (or quit losing) the Vietnam War, and was able to abolish the draft. Clinton famously “balanced” the federal budget through his “peace dividend”, which was a result of cutting half of our Army’s active divisions, and mothballing almost as much of our Navy. We then went into Afghanistan and Iraq with too few active duty military to support the endeavors, having to ru much of those wars with Reserves and NG. Dems get back in power with Obama, and stretch our military even more with even more overseas commitments, while not increasing our military budget sufficient to cover such expansions. For the Dems, Cash for Clunkers and the CA Bullet Train From Nowhere To Nowhere were higher funding priorities than buying enough bullets to wage the wars they got us into (and continuing the ones they inherited).

I think that we need a national consensus to either significantly increase military spending, or reduce our overseas military commitments. After WW II, probably only the US could protect Western Europe from Soviet expansionism. But we are nearing 3/4 of a century of the US being the primary funders of European Security. During that time, their economies benefitted, year in and year out, from our military umbrella. Ditto for Japan and S Korea. Instead of cutting back our military commitments, Administration after Administration have increased them.

I think that it is significant that of all the candidates for the Dem Presidential nomination, war veteran Major Tulsi Gabbard is the notable exception to the Dem chickenhawk candidates, essentially agreeing with Republicans in this one area, that we need to cut back on our foreign military commitments.; 10/24/19, 10:23 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Blow is outraged because Obama and Hillary! killed off of the "Old", more moderate DemocRAT party and that hasn't worked out quite as well as was expected.; 10/24/19, 10:43 AM
tim in vermont said...: America was sleepwalking into a world dominated by Chinese interests, sleepwalking into a world where our speech rights were doomed to be subordinated to the needs of corporations seeking to remain in China’s vast markets. Sleepwalking into a world where any high value add jobs that could be done by common men without advanced degrees were going to be done in China.

Old style Republicans were fully behind it.; 10/24/19, 10:50 AM
DarkHelmet said...: The Never Trumpers are a tiny, tiny fraction of the old Republican coalition. They are disproportionately represented among talking heads, however.

Democrats would love to believe that Republicans are splintering. And yet there is no serious challenge to Trump being nominated to represent the party in 2020. If even 20% of the Republican primary electorate was ready to dump Trump you can believe there would be multiple candidates vying for their support. Instead, we get Mark Sanford, who could reserve a broom closet for a rally and still have way too much space.; 10/24/19, 10:53 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: Blow is an idiot. Fairly and squarely, Trump wrestled for and won the leadership of the GOP. Fairly and squarely, Trump wrestled for and won the Presidency of the United States.

Has this been good for the country? I'd say yes, on the whole.

Has this been good for the party? I'd say definitely. Too many country club Republicans like Mitt Romney in charge. Too many conservative theoreticians like Paul Ryan in charge.

Frankly, the Dems need the same thing in their party. Too much Clinton at the top. Obama is absentee. And the bench is weak.; 10/24/19, 10:54 AM
Mike said...: If the Republicans are in trouble, then the Democrats must be close to collapse. When it comes to actually electing people on a local, state, and national level, Democrats are far far behind.; 10/24/19, 11:13 AM
daskol said...: The Never Trumpers are a tiny, tiny fraction of the old Republican coalition.

I wish this were true. However, as Trump zeroes in on corrupt practices by Biden and the utter corruption of our administrative state, those invested in the status quo will grow that number. Unless Trump can make it politically more costly to oppose him than it is to try to sustain the gravy train, he will be increasingly lonely. I suspect that's another reason for the urgency of impeachment: if more Trump allies, and fresh blood in general, enters Congress in 2020, the coalition of the status quo will be in increasing jeopardy.; 10/24/19, 11:16 AM
Greg the class traitor said...: Trump is a Jacksonian. Reagan tried to be a Jacksonian, but didn't really pull it off. But the "Reagan Democrat" voters were Jacksonians who looked around and noticed that "their" Party really wasn't theirs any more.

I'm not a full Jacksonian, because I don't like a lot of their domestic policies (see Trump not being willing to kill ObamaCare).

But the Jacksonians are right on foreign policy (win it, or don't do it), and the Western "elites" are either incompetent buffoons, or evil SOBs who help their "tribe", and deliberately screw over everyone else.

So, Trump is helping to purge the rot from the GOP. But it's going to be a long fight. Just as Trump is helping to purge the Leftist rot from the US, and that will be another long fight.

But, for the first time in a long time, I'm willing to believe that the end result will be a Party, and a Country, worth preserving; 10/24/19, 11:19 AM
Einfahrt said...: Apres Trump, s’effondrer.

Who in the party, or on the national scene can or will continue with the lessons learned about fighting back, about not letting bureaucrats or the press lead them by the nose to policies unwanted by the people, about immigration issues, economic policies. Each of these seemed weakly addressed if at all by the establishment. Are any of the establishment learning anything or does this all go away after Trump?; 10/24/19, 11:32 AM
Drago said...: daskol: "However, as Trump zeroes in on corrupt practices by Biden and the utter corruption of our administrative state, those invested in the status quo will grow that number."

Those invested in the status quo (the status quo to which you are referring) are by and large not residents of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina or Florida.

Looks like Trump will be losing a few more votes in NYC and Washington DC.

Oh well.; 10/24/19, 11:46 AM
Birkel said...: Greg,
I believe Trump was willing to kill ObamaCare.
Paul Ryan made sure that theory wouldn't be tested.; 10/24/19, 11:49 AM
DavidM said...: I am no longer a Republican, I am a Trumper and I don't even like Trump.
Trump has done a lot more than expose the corrupt DC politics and corrupt media.
He has shown me what spineless twits my republican representatives are.
He has also shown me how power hungry and authoritarian the democrats are.
Trump fights, I like fighters.; 10/24/19, 1:10 PM
Greg the class traitor said...: Blogger Birkel said...
Greg,
I believe Trump was willing to kill ObamaCare.
Paul Ryan made sure that theory wouldn't be tested.

The second is true, but we should include McConnell in the blame for that. Both houses of Congress should ahve had ObamaCare repeal bills as their first item of business. neither did

My recall is that Trump wanted to keep a bunch of the subsidies and exchanges. howe3ver, a quick review of the Net doesn't find that, so I'll withdraw my claim for now; 10/24/19, 1:25 PM
Bilwick said...: If the Zombie Republican party were zealously pro-freedom, I'd have no complaint.; 10/24/19, 2:24 PM
tim in vermont said...: I like to think that both Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz have learned from Trump, but I don’t think either has his talent. I would have said Rush should run, but listening to him recently, he has lost a step, mentally, I think. He gets repetitious, he wanders off point, in ways he never used to. I think Rush used to be, and still is somewhat, an interesting thinker. But there is more to the job than that.; 10/24/19, 3:31 PM
Michael McNeil said...: Re Democrats turning into chickhawks: Truthdig.com — apparently a generally left-wing anti-war site — has an interesting article (by a Major Danny Sjursen, U.S. Army Ret. — who has otherwise written for such sites as The Nation) “Democrats have no answer for Trump's anti-war posture,” arguing that Trump is quite likely to win the forthcoming 2020 election as a result of the Democrats' complete failure in this regard.; 10/24/19, 9:47 PM
JamesB.BKK said...: Trump only held a pillow over the GOP's mouth and nose, and it was too weak and afraid of being called names to do anything about it.; 10/25/19, 1:13 AM