I began writing this blog, as I noted recently, to explain Trump’s 2016 win to my friends in Europe.  What I have come to understand better over the past four years is what actually occurred and what I think it means for America.

As some of you may have noted, along with the Republican Party, I have found both the media and the Democrats also lacking in courage and in sense.  Over the years, I have contemplated that perhaps the U.S. needed a third party to break up the binary choice that our two parties had evolved to in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries.  By that I mean, while there were policy differences, the impact of money on politics had so undermined the ability of either party to be true to its ideals on more than a poll-tested occasional basis, that there seemed to be a need for a third way.

Well, that third way arrived in the form of Donald Trump.  Needless to say, that was not what I had in mind.  I didn’t think a George Wallace or Pat Buchanan movement was what was needed. However, what we got was Trump, who decided that the Republican Party was his new home.  He was not burdened with a set of principles other than attacking people and channeling the grievances of many Americans.  Now what is so intriguing is that, in many cases, the grievances were legitimate and were fueled by the impact of globalization and the complete disregard for the impact on millions of American lives by the leaders of both major parties. Thus, these legitimate grievances, undressed by our national parties, became the platform of Trump who had no legitimate grievances himself, but who articulated the frustration and anger that existed for many.

Today, Trump is the Republican Party, or more accurately, the Republican Party is the Party of Trump.  The real question now is, will the real Republican Party please stand up? Or are we back to a binary choice of the Democrats and the Trumps?  I guess as we go through the next few weeks and watch the pardon parade and Trump’s attempt to unhinge the government further (which, by the way, will require Republican Senators and House members to vote on his crazy election theft conspiracy while he tweets them into oblivion if they dare defy him), we will see if there is a Republican Party left outside of Trump.  As a gambling man, I give it no more than even money… I hope I am wrong.