'Funeral for pre-Trump GOP': Dem strategist explains why 'worst may still be ahead' for Republican Party

Ahead of the final presidential debate before the January 15 Iowa caucuses, Democratic strategist Max Burns argues in a Wednesday, January 10 op-ed, "Trumpism has won," emphasizing "the evolution of the GOP shows us that the worst may still be ahead."

He writes, "The MAGA revolution must be a bitter irony for those who spent decades building [late President Ronald] Reagan into the godlike figure he has become for many Republicans. It isn’t hard to see why that image appeals to a movement filled with people who believe Trump may actually be the risen messiah. That’s about to make life impossible for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and any other Republican unwilling to swear loyalty to The Donald."

Burns adds, "Just like Reaganism, Trumpism will seem invincible until the moment it isn’t. Like all personality cults, its fall will come suddenly and the results will be unpredictable — both for the Republican Party and for our country. It’s tempting to say that anything must be better than the mask-off authoritarianism of Trumpism."

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The Democratic strategist notes:

In the first debate, Vivek Ramaswamy denounced the very idea of Reagan’s 'Morning in America' optimism. DeSantis rejected calls from Republican strategists to embrace Reagan’s policy-driven campaign style, choosing instead to emulate Trump’s slash-and-burn politics.

And gone from Haley’s speeches are the praises of Reagan and small-government conservatism that marked the launch of her campaign. In their place are Trump-like jeremiads about the mass deportation of undocumented migrants and resisting any and all gun control legislation in the wake of yet another mass shooting. Both stances would come as a shock to Reagan, who as president famously granted amnesty to over 3 million undocumented migrantsand spent his political career regulating guns.

Wednesday's debate "might as well be a funeral for the pre-Trump GOP," Burns emphasizes.

READ MORE: 'Authoritarian lunatic' Trump aiming for 'something resembling Nazi Germany in the 30s': GOP strategist