Two recent Colorado Politics stories caught my eye this week and compelled me to ponder what the heck is going on in the modern Republican Party, especially here in the West. 

First, I read the always insightful column of fellow columnist Eric Sondermann. He explored in far greater expertise than I’d bring to the task the situation in the current Colorado GOP. He noted that the Republicans in his old hometown (and my current abode) of Colorado Springs, in El Paso County, had invited one of the truly nutty Republicans in the US House these days, Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, to speak at the annual county GOP fundraiser. Green seems to bask in the glow of intolerance and a lack of understanding of the Constitution. Given the current situation in the party, it is not much of a surprise that her event sold out quickly. I encourage you to read Sondermann’s entire column, as he carefully ticks off the self-inflicted wounds the Colorado Republicans seem intent on continuing to perpetrate, and the likely and ongoing electoral implications therein.

The second story that I noted was from the always interesting Out West Roundup, wherein you can learn a great deal about what is happening, well, out west. In that column, I learned that at least a couple, and likely more, GOP county organizations in the great state of Wyoming have not given up in their quest to punish their only member of Congress, Liz Chaney, for having the audacity to suggest that a president who encourages an insurrection should be held accountable. In a letter the county GOPers sent to Cheney, they couldn’t help but quote their bizarre hero by telling her, “In the immortal words of the 45th President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump …’You’re Fired!'”

Umm… not so much…

Now, I know firsthand that Wyoming is a hard red state these days. When my late first wife and I registered as Democrats there, during my initial military tour at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, the fellow at the county clerk’s office joked that we had, by registering, increased the number of Democrats in Wyoming by a third. It’s not quite that bad, but you get the idea.

As I am a guy who was an actual associate professor of political science, focusing on American politics at the Air Force Academy and teaching there over 15 years during my military career, I’m supposed to understand things like, well, American politics. 

Usually, I do. Back when it was new in 2016, the cult of Trump was kind of understandable – what with outrage at perceptions of “politics as usual” and a dose of good old misogyny kicking in. Still, I was rather amazed that he won (the Electoral College, to be sure, not the popular vote, but that debate must await a future column). His campaign was disorganized, and he couldn’t seem to keep fact from fiction in any meaningful way. But he was the face of outrage and appealed especially to those who felt their own privilege slipping away. 

What I don’t get though is the continued obsession with the now-defeated Trump in the current GOP, around the nation and around the west. And from an old poli sci professor’s point of view, I think it must have something to do with the party devolving from a political movement to a cult of personality.

Now, Americans electing presidents based on the popularity of the candidate, rather than on issues, is not new. We’ve had “cult of personality” candidates before. Some succeeded and others did not. George Washington was such a candidate, as no one really cared if he was the candidate of the Federalist Party or not – they wanted saintly George. That one worked out OK.

We saw the Dems go cultish, in my view, in 1960, when a youthful and energetic good-looking guy (who understood the value of this new thing called TV better than his opponent) was elected, albeit by a whisker. We saw the Dems most successful cult of personality candidate win the White House no less than four time in the person of FDR. The GOP has had a few as well, most recently in Ronald Reagan, twice elected based on whom he appeared to be, rather than for any particular policy point of view. 

But if you look at the aforementioned group of gentlemen, you may notice one common theme among them all – they were all (admittedly to different degrees) basically qualified to be president, based on knowledge, temperament, and, well, smarts. Donald Trump somehow broke the mold and found a way to get enough electoral votes to win the office through anger, apathy, and amnesia. 

What I don’t get is why, in the time since he left office, he continues to keep a death grip on the Republican Party at all levels. Even after losing the popular vote yet again, and helping his party lose the White House, the Senate, and the US House, Trump remains in absolute control of a once-honorable party to the point that hardworking, qualified, and truly conservative people like Liz Cheney are vilified for supporting law and order (and the cops at the Capitol), which used to be claimed as GOP territory.

If all I cared about was my party’s electoral success, I’d be delighted to see the Trump trauma continue to hobble the GOP. He has offended so many, in so many ways, that he has rendered himself unelectable, even as his most devote followers yelp for his 2024 candidacy, given that he didn’t magically become president again last week, as a certain pillow manufacture claimed he would. If I only think of politics, I’d love to have Trump run every year, as I can think of few things that would be better at getting Democrats elected.

But, well, I love my country far more than I love my party. I ache to return to people like George H.W. Bush and John McCain as GOP presidential nominees, battling against Dems like, oh, I dunno, Michael Bennet (see what I did there?). But as long at the cult of Trump continues to flex real power within the roughly 25% of Americans who call themselves Republicans, they will likely find the road to national elective office getting far more narrow. 

I can only hope that the GOP of today will become a footnote in poli sci textbooks, for the good of the nation.