(CNN) John Boehner, freed from the constraints of elected office and living his best life, offered a candid analysis of the state of the party he once led.

"There is no Republican Party," Boehner said during an appearance at the annual GOP gathering at Mackinac Island in Michigan earlier this week. "There's a Trump Party. The Republican Party is kind of taking a nap somewhere."

He is exactly right.

All parties evolve over time. This is a matter of survival rather than political expediency. The Republican Party is no different. The GOP as envisioned by Gerald Ford was different than the one Ronald Reagan wanted. George W. Bush's vision was not the same as his father's. Times change. Parties need to as well.

But that natural shifting over time is radically different than what has happened within the Republican Party since Donald Trump began running for the GOP nomination in June 2015. In those three-ish years, the Republican Party has undergone a total and complete overhaul of policy and priorities -- all directed by Trump and capitulated to by GOP congressional leaders unwilling to break with him for fear of retribution and in hopes that they could attach some of their own priorities to the fast-moving Trump train.

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