Weekly Standard: GOP has surrendered to Trump

The latest editorial in The Weekly Standard calls the rifts in the Republican Party a surrender to President Trump, rather than a civil war.

The piece, titled “The Surrender,” calls Trump’s presidency a “hostile takeover of a historic institution” that has been accomplished with less resistance than ever before.

The magazine accuses GOP lawmakers of caving to Trump’s whims and “going along in order to get along,” rather than standing up for their ideals.

The piece points out Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) response to his colleagues’ criticism of Trump, where he said the feuds between Trump, Corker and Flake were “nonsense,” and said that the GOP should “shut up and do your job.”

Cruz came in second in the Republican presidential primary and notably did not endorse Trump during his speech at the Republican National Convention.

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“This is the same Ted Cruz who pointedly refused to shut up in 2016, declining to endorse Trump in his convention speech and making an impassioned plea for the defense of a party of principles, a party of conscience,” The Weekly Standard writes.

The piece compares the current transformation of the GOP to the gradual evolution of the Democratic Party to become more liberal over the past few decades but says it is “more confusing” and happening quicker.

“The GOP is being transformed because incumbents are accommodating their new masters before serious challengers are even on the horizon.”

The magazine calls on GOP lawmakers to “step up” or risk the downfall of their party.

“What’s wanted is for those with something more at stake to step up,” the piece reads. “Robert Frost famously described a liberal as someone unwilling to take his own side in a fight. Will that be what is said of conservatives and Republicans? That they stood on the sidelines and watched as the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt and Reagan was destroyed?”

The piece comes following a week where Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) lashed out at the president.

On Tuesday, Flake announced he would not seek reelection in 2018 in a blistering speech on the Senate floor. He later admitted he had not voted for Trump in the presidential election.

Earlier that same day, Corker — who is also not running to keep his seat in 2018 — criticized Trump on a number of issues, saying the president was debasing the country.