What Happened to the GOP?

Radio Atlantic

The Atlantic

Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2018

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Observing antidemocratic ‘power grabs’ by state Republicans, Atlantic staff writer George Packer writes that “the corruption of the Republican Party in the Trump era seemed to set in with breathtaking speed. In fact, it took more than a half century to reach the point where faced with a choice between democracy and power, the party chose the latter.” To understand how the party of Lincoln became the party of Trump, Alex Wagner spoke with Packer on this week’s episode of Radio Atlantic. Listen to hear Packer describe the three ‘insurgencies’ that explain the transformation of the GOP over the last half-century. An ideological revolution that began with Barry Goldwater became a coup for power with Newt Gingrich (A.K.A. “The Man Who Broke Politics”). Afterwards, moderate Republicans became an endangered species, the Tea Party emerged as a major force, and Trump’s brand of corrosive politics became, Packer says, “inevitable.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	If 2018 has been anything, it has been a year of tumult for the country and for
0:07.0	American politics.
0:09.4	Democrats shut out of power spent this year making the case to voters that their democracy is at stake.
0:14.8	Republicans meanwhile have controlled every branch of the government and yet the party has
0:20.0	spent much of its time making anti-Democratic moves across the country.
0:25.3	Leading up to the midterms, there was a wave of Republican-led voter suppression campaigns
0:30.0	in states like Georgia.
0:31.8	After big losses in November, lame duck Republican
0:34.4	legislatures have moved to strip authority from incoming Democrats in
0:38.2	Wisconsin and Michigan, with similar efforts underway in Ohio and Missouri.
0:43.4	And for most of this week, with Republicans in charge of the House and the Senate and the White House,
0:48.4	it's looked as if we were headed toward a shutdown of the federal government. That is all to say nothing of what
0:54.2	happens next year when Republicans will cast the deciding votes in
0:58.0	determining what happens to the president and his administration in the
1:01.8	wake of the Mueller investigations.
1:04.5	This week on the show we're going to examine what happened to the GOP.
1:09.0	When did it become a party interested in power at the expense of leadership and what does it mean for the
1:15.0	future of our democracy? This is Radio Atlantic. Hello, this is Alex Wagner, contributing editor at The Atlantic.
1:37.0	With me on this very special year-end,
1:39.6	wrap it up with a bow, episode of the podcast is the great George Packer
1:44.8	journalist, novelist, playwright, and as of a few weeks ago to our great delight
1:50.4	and Atlantic staff writer. George welcome. it is great to be here Alex we are so
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Atlantic, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Atlantic and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.