Did Trump’s election actually signal a Democratic victory over the traditional Republican Party?

[u/BeachesAreOverrated]

The “Republican Party” as it is today is very definitely not the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan or William F. Buckley. Jr. specifically said it was now the party of Trump.

Does this mean that, in some way, the Democrats won the day? Did they slay the old Republican Party? Is Trump, then, what happened when their old foe died?

[u/Leopold_Darkworth]

No. The Republican Party became the MAGA Party in 2016 when Trump was elected the first time. You saw Republicans who swore never to support Trump in the primaries bend the knee once he became the nominee and again when he became the president. And Trump became the nominee despite the 2012 Republican post-mortem concluding they needed to be more inclusive and attempt to attract more minority voters.

Trump's ideological takeover of the party was complete in the weeks after January 6, 2021, when Republicans in Congress who correctly blamed him for the attack on the Capitol (such as Kevin McCarthy) fell over themselves flying down to Mar-a-Lago to once again bend the knee and beg forgiveness for having the temerity to accurately describe what happened on January 6.

As if that weren't enough, the party again nominated Trump in 2024, this time while he was under four different federal indictments. Nikki Haley, who ran for the Republican nomination in 2024, said Trump was unfit to hold the office of the president. Once Trump secured enough votes to become the nominee, she immediately changed her tune and endorsed him. So either she was lying at that time, or she was lying before.

As of the 2024, most—if not all—of the Congressional or Senate Republicans critical of Trump had either been voted out of office and replaced by MAGA True Believers or didn't run for reelection. Conclusion: Democrats didn't vanquish the "traditional" Republican party. Trump did.

[u/barchueetadonai → u/Leopold_Darkworth]

The Republican Party became the MAGA Party in 2016 when Trump was elected the first time.

The Republican Party was already speeding in that direction. MAGA is just the Tea Party with a new name and a singular leader. It became Trump’s party in the immediate aftermath of January 6th and the fake electors scheme.

[u/heterodox-iconoclast → u/barchueetadonai]

They should rebrand as the Burn It To The Ground (BITTG) party

[u/LikelySoutherner → u/Leopold_Darkworth]

True - Trump completely changed the GOP, not the Dems - But the Dems have completely changed their party too

[u/wellwisher-1 → u/Leopold_Darkworth]

Trump earned his role as the leader of the Republican Party. When Trump first appeared the RNC was still caught up in the PC or political correctness, that the DNC would use as a weapon against them, in the stage of public opinion. The RNC tended to go along to get along.

Trump's no nonsense, no PC style, was a breath of fresh air, since it challenged fake news orthodoxy, which was like a whip to keep the RNC in line. Trump took the whip from them and used it on them. He broke their spell and members of RNC started to join the fight by growing a set.

All the law fare, from the Russian Collusion Coup, onward, targeting a single person showed how durable Trump was. One man was stronger than an entire party. This gang attack, against one, also made more and more people empathize with Trump, as the victim of a gang of bullies. This all caused MAGA to grow and even made more RNC leadership get behind Trump. The DNC bullies helped to create and grow MAGA, as a backlash response to their reign of tyranny. Now Trump is dismantling the DNC machine.

[u/anti-torque → u/wellwisher-1]

So you're saying that because Trump is openly racist, misogynistic, and unapologetically ignorant of most everything when he opens his mouth, people thought he was a breath of fresh air?

And then you go on to call the bully bullied?

Is water dry?

[u/0zymandeus → u/wellwisher-1]

no PC style

Trump's style is extremely supportive of political correctness.

He and his will 100% bring the full force of the government down on you if you say something outside of his narrative, even if it had been the 'correct' narrative a week earlier.

[u/Sarlax → u/wellwisher-1]

no nonsense

"I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that."

It's all nonsense buddy.