Tackling our problems requires both sides’ best ideas to implement agreed-upon solutions. Instead, we have Gridlock on the border and aid to our friends. Reforming entitlements before they devour us is willfully ignored.

While both parties contribute to our inabilities, the new Democratic ticket may bring different thinking. I doubt it, but we have to wait and see. On the other hand, the Republicans will do whatever Donald Trump dictates. It’s best to take up the Republicans first and hold back on the Democrats.

Laying to rest any question Trump now dominates the Republican Party is confirmed by the party’s recent actions. Blocking the compromise Bill to Fund Ukraine, Israel, and our southern border before anyone even read it because Trump wanted the Border issue for the election. At that point, you couldn’t claim you were objecting to something in the bill because no one had seen the finished product. Republicans bowed to Trump’s needs instead of making inroads into the problems. 

The recent changes at the Republican National Committee add to the conclusion of Trump’s dominance. Appointing his daughter-in-law as co-chairman and wholesale replacing long-term employees with Trump loyalists leave no illusions about who the boss is.

At the state level, we’ve seen complete party apparatus takeovers in Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Those claiming Trump won their states in ’20 are now in control and attempting to purge others who follow the facts.

After underperforming in three straight elections, Republicans surely could use a real shakeup. The party needs to catch up in raising money, early voting, and mail-in ballots. Trump’s vocal preference for people voting only on election day didn’t help. The ground game must be better in many states to reach as many persuadable voters as possible.

If the wholesale shakeup at the RNC brought in people with success in these weak areas to match the Democrats, I would applaud the effort. Election success isn’t part of Laura Trump’s Resume, and she now is the face of the RNC. Has anybody ever seen her co-chairman?

Laura Trump provides the party organization’s absolute loyalty to her father-in-law. How reassuring is this to down-ballot Republicans, not Trump acolytes, who will receive support? 

Already, there are claims of outreach program curtailment. True or not, it shows contentious relationships in the party. This infighting at a time when the part needs to widen its appeal.

Rather than broadening the party’s appeal, you feel you’re amid a Stalinist purge. Ruling parties in totalitarian states often undergo these removals to shore up power. In Communist China, major players disappear. 

While this might be understandable to a dictator whose party is in power to eliminate threats to its rule, how does this help a party outside of power? Gaining more of the electorate’s favor to win power should come first. Driving out potential supporters narrows your chances.

While plenty of party officeholders and luminaries now support the Trump nomination, many still need to be convinced. This group is large enough to sink Trump if they go elsewhere or stay home.

The persistent Nikki Haley vote off 20-40% of the Republican vote is a significant danger sign. Her solidly better poll numbers against Biden will always indicate what might’ve been. Luring her and her supporters into the Trump tent would seem to be task one, but even I can feel the chill in Arizona.

Nikki Haley has no reason to get back in Trump’s good graces. If Trump wins, it will be a government of absolute loyalists. Term-limited out after four years, only a true Trunper, probably someone with his name, will get the ’28 nomination. If it isn’t already, it will be the Trump party, not the Republicans. Even if offered the vice presidency, it isn’t much of an inducement. Remember how Trump treated Mike Pence.

If Trump loses, as she believes, Haley will remind them of the victory they could’ve had. Four straight losses reduce MAGA to a rump at best. She could move to take back the party or start a new one.

Third parties are already getting more attention because of the unpopular actions of the two major parties. After another loss, a new party would avoid the smell of defeat, and leaving the Trump Rump to stew in its failures might be best. In the series on the Future Party, I argued that competition from a new party or parties will give us better choices.

Given the circumstances, Trump must find a way to bring Haley, her voters, and other disaffected Republicans into the fold. Nominees usually move to the middle because that’s where elections generally are won.

At present, Trump is moving in the opposite direction. Former Vice President Pence’s announcement that he’d never vote for Trump was a wake-up call that Trump might’ve burned too many bridges.

The Republican Party looks like a candidate for joining the Federalists and the Whigs in the graveyard of parties. The way things are going, plenty of people will say good riddance.