Three Republicans illustrate the party’s identity crisis | SONDERMANN
Political parties evolve and change. The Republican Party of Ronald Reagan was hardly that of Dwight Eisenhower, much less Abraham Lincoln. The modern Democratic Party bears only a faint resemblance to the assemblage led by John F. Kennedy, to say little of Woodrow Wilson.
While Democrats today certainly have their wings, factions and internal debates, they operate within some boundaries of normalcy. The differences between Elizabeth Warren and Joe Manchin, even here at home between, say, John Hickenlooper and Lisa Calderon, are part and parcel of party coalitions.
On the flip side, the GOP remains in the grips of a full-blown identity crisis that has been the case since Donald Trump stole the keys from the likes of Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Scott Walker.
For an illustration of that core confusion, let’s look to three prominent, elected Republicans, two from Colorado and one from neighboring Utah. All have made headline news lately. Those above-the-fold stories tell us much about the battle for the GOP’s heart and soul.