Ever since a washed-up gameshow host and failed businessman turned nihilist and wannabe fascist infiltrated the Republican Party in 2016, it can be said that any principles and values the party once had were killed with every tweet and executive action. While some believed the authoritty of the Oval Office might lead to former "defeated" President Trump exhibiting some sort of humility and concern for the country, all it did was cause the malignant narcissist to unravel even more in his lust for hate, division and enriching himself. It will take historians years to make sense of all the damage this sociopath did to our Republic and how the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower, and, to a lesser extent, Reagan and Bush was turned into a tailgate party for white nationalism and destruction of all facets of government and society.

Trying to weave all of this chaos together into a neat package is quite the herculean task, so we're just going to name the five most insane things Republicans now believe in the era of Trumpism.

1. Screw Fair And Free Elections

From their non-stop gerrymandering and voter ID laws, Republicans appeared hell-bent on disenfranchising potential Democratic voters. But ever since the 2020 presidential election and Trump's anti-democratic crusade to undo our election system while invalidating it, Republicans are now at the point of delegitimizing elections. For example, defeated former President trump and his cronies are working tirelessly to remove all the Governors and statewide officials who did their job by certifying Preieint Biden's victory. They are doing this by running a slew of stooges who promote the big lie and appear willing to do the bidding of Trump and the GOP by ignoring the will of the people.

2. Violence Should Be Used When You Don't Get Your Way

Despite the fact that many of the party's top leaders initially decried Trump's insurrection, many of them now are embracing the violent events of January 6th. Trump's leading lap dog and favorite sycophantic Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for example, went so far as to attack President Joe Biden's brilliantly honest retelling of the events of January 6 and how Trump is to blame.

3. Worship Insane Conspiracy Theories

America finds itself in a strenuous tug-of-war with two sides: there's one America that accepts basic science and verifiable facts and then there's America that embraces loony, dangerous and widely debunked conspiracies. From anti-vaxxers and far-right media nutjobs promoting non-stop fake Covid cures and denials of well-established science to far-right white nationalists claiming that the violence of January 6th was committed by leftist group Antifa (spoiler alert: it wasn't), old-school and sensible Republicans like Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney find themselves in a party gone completely off the rails. Even though Trump was badly defeated and kicked to the curb of social media, Republicans don't appear ready to break his grip on the party. In other words, expect even more crazy conspiracies leading up to the 2022 midterm elections.

4. Embrace White Nationalism

Hillary Clinton ran a terrible presidential campaign and managed to ignore large swaths of middle-class voters, but let's face it, here: Donald Trump winning the presidency in 2016 was a culmination of years of angry white resentment after having an African-American president for eight years. Call it a whitelash or whatever you want, but the fact remains that Trump knew how to tap into this rancor and use it for his own gain. and boy did he ever make sure to coddle white nationalism and ensure that he never explicitly called out any act of white nationalist terrorism. Notably the violent events of Charlottesville 2017, involving the white nationalist tiki torch parade and Trump's refusal to heed his adviser's words by calling them out.

5. Super-Wealthy People Should Never Have To Pay Their Fair Share

Okay, so maybe this isn't exactly a new phenomenon. After all, Republicans have been quoting the failed gospel of Ronald Reagan and his unworkable trickle-down economics for more than 30 years, leaving the middle and working-class even poorer and at an even greater disadvantage than they were years ago. But ever since defeated former President Trump (never going to stop saying that) enacted his Tax Cuts And Joba Act in 2017, corporations have gotten even more power than ever before. Although it initially did some good for middle-class families, their taxes recently went up while tax cuts for corporations are permanent. President Biden hopes to level the playing field and restore power back to the middle-class with his Build Back Bette plan, but Republicans (and Joe Manchin) appear willing to fight tooth and nail for their corporate donors while throwing their working-class constituents under the bus.

H/T Alternet

Michael Hayne is a comedian, writer, voice artist, podcaster, and impressionist. Follow his work on Facebook and TikTok