The Republican party has become so obsessed with defending someone who isn't even in office (Trump) over his personal issues that it is becoming non-functional.
However, it's not really correct to say "we got rolled." [lame humor alert] They rolled themselves, then they smoked themselves.
>>>“Everything was moving so fast, the tax provisions were being debated on the fly, so there was very little time for groups to do that in-depth grassroots pushback like we saw during Obamacare,” said Cesar Ybarra, vice president of policy at conservative grassroots organization FreedomWorks. “To create buzz in this town and for it to penetrate across America, you need more time. So yeah, we got rolled.”
Far from a singular lapse, last week’s split-screen of the Mar-a-Lago search and the passage of the IRA provided a telling portrait of pistons that move modern Republican politics. Whereas conservative activism has, in past cycles, been driven by opposition to Democratic-authored policies or actions — from Obamacare to TARP— the modern version has been fed by culture-war issues and, more often than not, Trump himself.<<<
The former president’s presence on the political landscape is making it harder to launch a modern day Tea Party movement.
www.politico.com
