The GOP’s Autoimmune Disorder

The lab work is done, the data are in, and the diagnosis is clear: The institutional Republican Party has a chronic autoimmune disorder. Alarmingly, the affliction is multifaceted. On some occasions, it leads the body to ignore, or even to invite in, serious threats to its survival. On others, it triggers a pernicious overactivity that causes the body to turn inwards and attack itself. At present, there seems little hope for a cure.

Traditionally, healthy organisms are both willing and able to fight off the hazards that appear on the horizon. Scouring the middle distance for signs of impending peril, they spot a virus or a toxin or bunch of bacteria sneaking into the bloodstream, and they send out their best troops to destroy it. A candidate whom 64 percent of voters oppose? Zap. A whiny loser who blew a winnable race and then lied about it? Pow. A woman who ought by rights to be in a lunatic asylum? Splat. Alas, in its current condition, the Republican Party is able to do no such thing. Instead, it reasons that if its antibodies are against a given object, then that object must be doing something right. Worse yet, it never learns from its mistakes. The more lethal the venom, the less it does to fight it. Donald Trump’s first indictment prompted the GOP’s primary voters to put out a welcome sign. They injected his fourth indictment directly into their bloodstream.

About the Author

Charles C. W. Cooke

Charles C. W. Cooke is a senior editor at National Review and the host of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene

The lab work is done, the data are in, and the diagnosis is clear: The institutional Republican Party has a chronic autoimmune disorder. Alarmingly, the affliction is multifaceted. On some occasions, it leads the body to ignore, or even to invite in, serious threats to its survival. On others, it triggers a pernicious overactivity that causes the body to turn inwards and attack itself. At present, there seems little hope for a cure.

Traditionally, healthy organisms are both willing and able to fight off the hazards that appear on the horizon. Scouring the middle distance for signs of impending peril, they spot a virus or a toxin or bunch of bacteria sneaking into the bloodstream, and they send out their best troops to destroy it. A candidate whom 64 percent of voters oppose? Zap. A whiny loser who blew a winnable race and then lied about it? Pow. A woman who ought by rights to be in a lunatic asylum? Splat. Alas, in its current condition, the Republican Party is able to do no such thing. Instead, it reasons that if its antibodies are against a given object, then that object must be doing something right. Worse yet, it never learns from its mistakes. The more lethal the venom, the less it does to fight it. Donald Trump’s first indictment prompted the GOP’s primary voters to put out a welcome sign. They injected his fourth indictment directly into their bloodstream.