Felon, former president and presidential candidate Donald Trump has dominated — devoured, actually — the Republican Party. Virtually every elected official bends to his will to endorse him or follow his edicts; the party has jettisoned any consistent policy principles in favor of blind obedience to his impulses. And nearly all Republicans who have crossed him have been either defeated or compelled to retire.
Still, over the years when Never Trumpers were asked whether they still belonged to the GOP, they would often respond: “Yes, I’m not willing to concede the party to Trump.” They imagined the “battle for the soul of the Republican Party” was ongoing. That has become a harder belief to sustain as any sliver of opposition has melted away.
Former congresswoman Liz Cheney’s response on “Meet the Press” Sunday to the question as to whether she is a Republican was therefore telling. “I’m a conservative. I’m not a member of this — I do not consider myself a member of Donald Trump’s Republican Party.” Cheney did not quite shut the door on remaining in the party, but she did acknowledge that so long as it is “Trump’s Republican Party” there is no place for conservatives of good conscience.
Unless Trump loses so decisively as to trigger a mass renunciation of his movement (highly........