Moderate heroes of the New Jersey Republican Party past? It's time to move over. This is now Donald Trump's party.

Yes, the New Jersey GOP that once rallied with pride around former Gov. Tom Kean's gospel of inclusion roared Tuesday night in Wildwood to Trump's fire-and-brimstone sermon of grievances and to his P.T. Barnum boasts. And, of course, Trump's heaping of red meat, partisan attacks.

Democrats, he claimed, push "demented hoaxes, crazy witch hunts and deranged partisan crusades."

"Which is worse, the impeachment hoax or the witch hunt from Russia?" Trump said.

Certainly, Trump's visit was his payment in a political transaction hatched with U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, the former Dennis Township dentist and former Democrat who pledged his "undying support" to Trump a day after voting against his impeachment.

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Trump rewarded him with Tuesday night's rally and a fulsome blessing, calling Van Drew a "courageous man" who could no longer stand the Democratic Party, the "Socialist Party,'' he said.

“He has had enough of their extremism," Trump said before introducing Van Drew with a full body hug — a significant gesture for Trump given his aversion to contact and germs — and pat on the back.

But, in a sense, Van Drew was just part of a larger, strategic reality for New Jersey Republicans. Van Drew may have jumped ship to save his seat in November. But one by one, most of the state's Republican leaders are falling in line, casting aside misgivings about Trump's anti-immigrant animus, his Access Hollywood misogyny and his collegial coziness with Vladimir Putin and the world's growing stable of autocrats.

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The truth is the Republican base loves Trump's thumb-in-the-eye style, his ability to "make liberals cry," as one large Trump poster described it on Atlantic Avenue near the boardwalk. The "base" is no longer limited to rural Cape May and Sussex counties, but includes the Morris and Somerset suburbs of groomed country clubs.

Republicans of all stripes — including those raised under Kean's Big Tent ethos of the 1980s — cannot afford to cross the base, which equates dissent with disloyalty and possibly a sign of being a closet Democrat.

The New Jersey GOP is relying on a strategic rationale. The economy is humming, unemployment is low, and with things going well, voters might be more inclined to overlook Trump's excesses, especially if the Democrats elect a "far-left socialist."

"The voters will have a binary choice in the election against — I don’t know who yet, probably a far-left Democrat,'' said David Richter, a Republican who aborted his planned primary challenge to Van Drew and is now launching a bid in the neighboring 3rd Congressional District in Ocean and Burlington counties.

"He'll do better in New Jersey, better than people think, and he’ll certainly do better in southern New Jersey," Richter said.

It may be a fantasy. New Jersey is a blue state, with nearly 1 million more registered Democrats than Republicans. That gap only widened over the past four years of Trump, who lost New Jersey by 14 points to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Yet Republican candidates for Congress this fall and for governor next year can't survive a primary without capturing the GOP base: A recent Monmouth University poll found 86 percent approval for Trump among New Jersey Republicans. That means they'll have to clutch Trump's coattails in the primary while disowning them for a general election contest.

They are already making that move. State Sen. Thomas H. Kean Jr., R-Union, who is running for the 7th Congressional District in central Jersey against freshman Democrat Thomas Malinowski, said he had intended to attend the rally.

Moderates like Jack Ciattarelli, the former Somerset County assemblyman and Republican candidate for governor, are taking the pragmatic plunge into Trumpland. Ciattarelli, who in 2016 called Trump a "charlatan," unworthy of the presidency, now says, "Trump's policies are working."

"He has earned my support,'' said Ciattarelli, who argued that it would be wise for the next New Jersey governor to be in the good graces of Trump. It would give him a chance to lobby Trump to scrap the state and local tax deduction cap that has harmed New Jersey's property tax payers or push for funding for the stalled Gateway tunnel project.

Asked about his harsh critique of Trump in the past, Ciattarelli quipped, "My wife has called me much worse in 26 years of marriage." Ciattarelli did not snag a VIP ticket for the event, but he worked the MAGA-cap-wearing Trump supporters clogging Pacific Avenue and the Wildwood boardwalk.

Former Gov. Chris Christie, who once mocked Trump as a shallow reality television host unworthy of the presidency, earned a shout-out of praise from Trump. Christie has since become a shadow adviser to Trump and his paid defender-interpreter on ABC News.

Embracing Trump also put many in the New Jersey GOP in the cheering section Tuesday as he rattled off his classic stump speech, a mix of exaggerated and false claims and dark, hard-edged assertions that Democrats are propping up "deadly sanctuary cities" for illegal immigrants who commit violent crime, of Democrats who support abortion policies that allow doctors to "rip" fetuses out of the womb.

Then there was his repeated taunting of the "fake news" media, clustered in the center of the auditorium, eliciting lusty boos from the crowd. Republican officials who have thrown in with Trump seemed more than pleased to join in.

In an earlier time, centrist-to-moderate New Jersey Republicans would avoid this kind of talk, dismiss it as barbaric yawping from the fever swamp fringe. But the GOP base made its pilgrimage to Wildwood, and the elected class followed them down the parkway.

“I think we’re going to hear a lot about the work that he’s been doing, you know, fighting trade wars that are helping the country, keeping the economy strong, putting America first again,” said state Republican Party Chairman Douglas Steinhardt, also touted as a possible gubernatorial candidate for 2021.

“I think he’s got a great track record. The economy’s booming. Ironically, I think it masks a lot of the problems we have here in New Jersey,” Steinhardt said during introductory remarks.

Newly elected state Sen. Michael Testa, R-Cumberland, put it more succinctly: "Mr. President, welcome to Trump country."

The crowd roared its approval: "USA! USA!"

New Jersey Republicans, who once proudly rallied around moderate establishment figures such as Clifford Case, Tom Kean and Christie Whitman, formally became the Party of Trump. And there's no turning back.

Charlie Stile is a veteran New Jersey’s political columnist. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey’s political power structure and his powerful watchdog work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: stile@northjersey.com Twitter: @politicalstile