Republican Party

The Republican Party Is Nothing More Than a Cult of Trump

The GOP has shifted from endorsing conservative ideas to embodying the whims of one man.

J.D. Tuccille | 5.22.2026 7:00 AM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

(BONNIE CASH/UPI/Newscom)

The Republican Party is dead. Long live the party of Trump, which wears the GOP like a skin suit.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump took down libertarian-leaning Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.), to whom he'd taken such a profound dislike that he backed a primary challenger in the form of MAGA stalwart Ed Gallrein. Massie was highly ranked for his voting record by conservative organizations, but so were other candidates Trump pushed out of office—and out of the party. In truth, it's been years since the Republican Party was a conservative organization; these days it's a cult of personality around the president.

You are reading The Rattler from J.D. Tuccille and Reason. Get more of J.D.'s commentary on government overreach and threats to everyday liberty.

Email

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Email(Required)

SUBSCRIBE

Trump Turns on 'Unreliable' Members of His Own Party

"Tom Massie of Kentucky, the worst and most unreliable Republican Congressman in the history of our Country, is an even bigger insult to our Nation than Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana," President Trump snarked on May 17. That was the day Cassidy lost his state's Republican Senate primary to Trump-backed challenger Rep. Julia Letlow and State Treasurer John Fleming, who now head to a runoff.

By that point, Trump-backed primary challengers had already turned out five Republican Indiana state senators who resisted the president's drive to gerrymander congressional districts to gain advantage in this........

© Reason.com