I think it was always inevitable after the party unconditionally surrendered to Trump in 2016 – remember Lindsey Graham saying that if the GOP nominated Trump that it would get destroyed and deservedly so? – but it has still been really remarkable to see the complete and total collapse of GOP policy on almost everything from immigration, to foreign policy, and everything in between.
It used to be that you could count on the GOP to be the party of law and order, but then they nominated a convicted felon who openly announces his intent to pardon all of the other convicted felons who were put behind bars for beating the shit out of “the blue” on January 6.
It used to be that you could count on the GOP to be the party of support the troops, but then they nominated a guy who disparaged prisoners of war, Gold Star and Purple Heart families, called American soldiers “suckers and losers” forgiving their lives on the battlefield in defense of our freedom, and refused to go to the American cemetery at Normandy on a day that it was raining because it would mess up his hair.
It used to be that you could count on the GOP to be the party that talked the talk and walked the walk on being tough on Russia, but now they nominated a guy who openly performs fellatio on Vladimir Putin in front of the entire world.
It used to be that you could count on the GOP to advocate for supporting our democratic allies abroad through military and financial aid, but now they have nominated a ticket that expresses an open desire to surrender Ukraine to the Russians.
It used to be that you could count on the GOP to be the party of strong border security, but now they have nominated a guy who openly bragged that he single-handedly torpedoed the strongest by bipartisan immigration reform and border security legislation in decades.
It used to be that you could count on the GOP to be the party of individual responsibility and pull yourself up by the bootstraps, but now they have nominated a guy who has never taken personal responsibility or been held accountable for anything which he has ever done in his life yet still whines and cries and complains that he has been treated more unfairly than anyone in American history.
It used to be that you could count on the GOP to be the party of personal freedoms, but now the entire party wants the government to get all up in your wife or your girlfriend’s or your daughter’s vagina, or hang out in your bedroom while you have sex with another consenting adult of your choice.
I can’t think of anything more humiliating or embarrassing than to be a Republican trying to argue with a straight face that the current Republican Party is anything remotely resembling a classically conservative movement with classically conservative policy aims and goals.