“Of all the things President Trump has destroyed, the Republican Party is among the most dismaying,” The New York Times Editorial Board declared on Sunday.
“’Destroyed’ is perhaps too simplistic, though. It would be more precise to say that Mr. Trump accelerated his party’s demise, exposing the rot that has been eating at its core for decades and leaving it a hollowed-out shell devoid of ideas, values or integrity, committed solely to preserving its own power even at the expense of democratic norms, institutions and ideals.
“Tomato, tomahto. However you characterize it, the Republican Party’s dissolution under Mr. Trump is bad for American democracy.
“A healthy political system needs robust, competing parties to give citizens a choice of ideological, governing and policy visions. More specifically, center-right parties have long been crucial to the health of modern liberal democracies, according to the Harvard political scientist Daniel Ziblatt’s study of the emergence of democracy in Western Europe. Among other benefits, a strong center right can co-opt more palatable aspects of the far right, isolating and draining energy from the more radical elements that threaten to destabilize the system.
“Today’s G.O.P. does not come close to serving this function. It has instead allowed itself to be co-opted and radicalized by Trumpism. Its ideology has been reduced to a slurry of paranoia, white grievance and authoritarian populism. Its governing vision is reactionary, a cross between obstructionism and owning the libs. Its policy agenda, as defined by the party platform, is whatever President Trump wants — which might not be so pathetic if Mr. Trump’s interests went beyond ‘Build a wall!’
“’There is no philosophical underpinning for the Republican Party anymore,’ the veteran strategist Reed Galen recently lamented to this board. A co-founder of the Lincoln Project, a political action committee run by current and former Republicans dedicated to defeating Mr. Trump and his enablers, Mr. Galen characterized the party as a self-serving, power-hungry gang.”
The rest of the editorial is here.
Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report 
I actually disagree. This started in 1988 when Rush Limbaugh went national from Sacramento. It continued in 1993 when Congress allowed the Limbaugh show to be broadcasted on Armed Forces Network indoctrinating our service personnel. It continued during the Bush Administration. Fox News. I don’t see why this is an epiphany.
I think it actually started the day FDR took office and began creating the New Deal. The robber barons and their progeny didn’t like the increasing power of labor unions, with their socialist leanings, and FDR’s implementing such “socialist” ideas as Social Security was the last straw. And so began the slow calculated ascent to take absolute control over America’s social agenda. This has now been all but totally accomplished. Between Trump’s three questionable Supreme Court appointments and the 217 other judicial appointments, many of whom were rated as ‘unqualified’ by the national bar association, our legal system has been made a political tool of the far right agenda. The shenanigans surrounding Trump’s Supreme Court appointments and the rubber-stamp Republican Senate, who hold trials without witnesses, and vote for the interests of the super-wealthy over working people, time and time again, confirms not only the end of what was once the Republican party but perhaps the Democratic Party as well. Even if the Dems control all three houses, every law they pass, every breath they take will result in litigation. The Republican’s are stacking the court system so any change will be slow in coming if at all. Many things, especially related to climate and environmental issues have and will continue to be overturned in favor of industry. Decades of social change and hard work will take a few steps back.