Hello and welcome to the bunker you'll need to know on news and politics five days a week

I'm Chris Jones. The

U.S. Republican Party has long been dominated by one man, Donald Trump. For the

third straight time he's been nominated as the GOP presidential candidate and no matter how poorly he performs

with any other media platform that isn't Fox no matter how damaging and insulting his comments

on topics such as race are, there is little mainstream pressure for him to stand aside.

Our guest today has served in three Republican presidential administrations, including that headed by George W Bush. He now regularly writes for the

likes of the Atlantic, the New York Times, and is a senior fellow at the Trinity

Forum. His latest essay titled What Has Happened my party haunts me?

G.A party that once used to be known

as the party of law and order now headed by a convicted felon.

Peter Wainer, welcome to the bunker.

It's great to be with you. Thanks for me on.

It's always a pleasure to talk to you. I want to start at the start of your political career,

I guess. What was it that drew you to Republican politics right back at the

stop what pulled you in I was interested in politics as a general matter when I was

a young man in high school social social studies, my favorite classes.

My parents were Republican leaning.

They were not ideological.

They had a broad view of the world interested in international affairs.

So we had a lot of conversations, but they were conservative, I would say, in their instincts

and policy orientation.

...