[Election Digest] Are Republicans at war with Trump—or themselves?

"This election has been the great unmasking." —Eric Burns, World War Tweet Where did that Grand Old conservative ideology go? Good question. We are told there were once great Republican leaders—think Abe Lincoln and Ronald Reagan—who led a party that was the logical, intellectually rigorous anathema to the shrieking and short-sightedness of the left. But today, some Republican women are wandering the desert, saying they'll turn out for Hillary, while others are wondering: did true conservatism ever even exist in the first place? Trump's emergence may have unmasked something, but many lifelong conservatives know that the implosion of the GOP has been a long time coming. So where does that leave us? Much of America feels displaced right now, and for very good reason. The earth is shifting under our feet, the American Brand is losing market share, and we are looking for alternatives, for firmer rock upon which to pour foundations. This is the time when we find ourselves rejecting the old, the solid, and the staid, and clinging to the pretty, the shiny, and the new. Two hundred and eighteen million voters will never be able to settle on what's right, but they all seem to agree that something is wrong. Mood: Don't Be Fooled. —CW Carvell Wallace is a writer based in Oakland. Connect with us on: Get the Medium app: The views expressed here are those of the author, not Medium. You're receiving this email because you follow a 2016 election tag on Medium and are opted in to receive topic-based digests.

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