Post-Trump Republican Party: the impossible step backwards

Le Regard Libre N° 66 - Clément Guntern

Whether or not Donald Trump emerges victorious from the November elections, the Republican Party, to which he has attached himself, will find itself reshaped by his presidency. With the coronavirus crisis and polls undermining the Trump candidacy, Republicans are already squabbling over the future of the Grand Old Party. Ideological refocusing looks set to be difficult.

The Republican Party has changed significantly throughout its history. Since its founding in 1854 in opposition to slavery laws in the Southern states, its relationship with the Democratic Party has evolved considerably, and their positions have at times been reversed. Ideological shifts in one party have altered the other’s stance, a process further fueled by the size of these parties, which encompass factions that are sometimes quite far apart. While the Republican Party under President Reagan embarked on