The party loved Reagan, but what it has come to feel for Trump is closer to religious veneration.

MILWAUKEE — When the Republicans put the final gavel to the wreckage of their convention in Cleveland eight years ago, they were in a state of nuclear meltdown.

Yes, they had a nominee in reality television star Donald Trump. But the party itself was a collection of warring factions that agreed on little by way of principles, beyond their collective desire to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House.

Strategist David Urban, who helped organize the 2016 convention for Trump, recalls that the floor of Quicken Loans Arena felt like “enemy territory.” Tensions were thick between Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee. Even the normally rote process of passing a set of rules led to screaming matches between pro- and anti-Trump forces in the hall.

As one Colorado delegate told The Post: “I think the party is either in a major transition or in the throes of self-destruction.”

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Now we know the answer: It was both.

At this week’s convention, voices of dissent are almost nowhere to be heard. Roaming the floor, I caught up with South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, who was one of Trump’s earliest backers in the GOP establishment. The governor has been to nine of these gatherings before, and “the spirit and enthusiasm in this one is the greatest I have ever seen,” he told me. “I don’t recall one quite like this one ever.”

On Thursday, when Trump formally accepts the Republican nomination for the third time in a row, the atmosphere on the convention floor will be euphoric. The ultimate showman will finally have the coronation that was denied him eight years ago and that had to be curtailed to an unsatisfying virtual event because of covid in 2020.

Republicans are celebrating in part because they see the wind blowing their way. Though Trump remains an alienating figure to much of the nation — his approval rating never reached 50 percent while he was president — they believe they are heading toward a massive victory up and down the ballot in November.

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Overconfidence? Maybe. There are still more than 100 days to go before the election, after all. But as Republicans are coalescing, Democrats find themselves in a state of near-catastrophic dissension over the question of whether to dump their own nominee, who also happens to be the sitting president of the United States.

Growing numbers believe President Biden’s disastrous performance in his debate with Trump last month was an........

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