For all of my Republican friends who keep sifting through the ashes of this year’s Republican primaries in order to find hope, I refer you to the Peggy Lee song, “The Party’s Over.”

This Republican Party has abandoned any semblance of acknowledging the impact of Donald Trump on their party and this nation. Republicans who still believe in the rule of law, who don’t embrace wild conspiracy theories, or who don’t believe the FBI is a sinister force in our country, should wonder what they are doing in a party that uses Marjorie Taylor Greene (who believes Jews have space lasers) as a fundraising face.

The Republican Party they knew is gone. It will not return. Things are so bad that retiring Senators like Portman and Toomey, do not denounce Trump, not for political reasons, but to protect themselves and their families from his rabid followers who find violence an acceptable form of political action.

This party now fully embraces all grievances as the fault of someone else or some other entity. Their leader and his imitators only reinforce this notion. Unfortunately, it looks like there is no turning back.

So, just as the Whigs imploded in the mid-19th Century over the side of slavery, this party is imploding over the issue of democracy. Whether a new party will emerge is unclear and certainly, the Democrats are not offering a framework of tolerance that might entice some GOP members to explore that option.

We may just be entering a time where true Independents will emerge. Clearly, this Republican Party is no place for the Mitt Rooney’s or Larry Hogan’s of this world, not to mention Liz Cheney.

This used to be a Conservative party. Now it is a party of conspiracy embracers, grifters, and haters. It is a sad commentary that this is the hill upon which the party of Lincoln will die.