The GOP at breaking point
By Juan Williams - 11/30/15 06:00 AM EST, The Hill
The biggest political story of 2015 will also be the biggest political story of 2016: The Republican base has divorced the Republican establishment.
The rupture has paralyzed Congress and polarized voters, both inside and outside GOP ranks.
And no one knows how to fix this broken political party.
The year’s top example of GOP dysfunction was the far right coup by — at most — 40 Republican members of the Freedom Caucus that ended John Boehner’s tenure as Speaker. Even with a GOP majority, the Ohio Republican could not get his team to move in the direction of constructive solutions to the nation’s biggest problems.The same political dynamic was at play in this year’s endless congressional votes to end ObamaCare; the 21st set of hearings on Benghazi; the calls to eliminate the IRS; the threats to damage the American economy by refusing to raise the debt ceiling; and more threats to shut down the government to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
The same forces are at play in the campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.
No establishment Republican is close to the top of polls, which are instead dominated by angry “insurgents.” Party insiders focused on defeating Democrats in November 2016 are already conducting an early version of the Republican National Committee’s “autopsy” that was done after the party’s second loss to President Obama in 2012.
(More here.)
The biggest political story of 2015 will also be the biggest political story of 2016: The Republican base has divorced the Republican establishment.
The rupture has paralyzed Congress and polarized voters, both inside and outside GOP ranks.
And no one knows how to fix this broken political party.
The year’s top example of GOP dysfunction was the far right coup by — at most — 40 Republican members of the Freedom Caucus that ended John Boehner’s tenure as Speaker. Even with a GOP majority, the Ohio Republican could not get his team to move in the direction of constructive solutions to the nation’s biggest problems.The same political dynamic was at play in this year’s endless congressional votes to end ObamaCare; the 21st set of hearings on Benghazi; the calls to eliminate the IRS; the threats to damage the American economy by refusing to raise the debt ceiling; and more threats to shut down the government to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
The same forces are at play in the campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.
No establishment Republican is close to the top of polls, which are instead dominated by angry “insurgents.” Party insiders focused on defeating Democrats in November 2016 are already conducting an early version of the Republican National Committee’s “autopsy” that was done after the party’s second loss to President Obama in 2012.
(More here.)
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