Steve Deace

Here lies the party that ended America’s gravest moral sin, preserved the union and saved Western Civilization by winning the Cold War.

But all good things must come to an end. Time of death: May 3, 2016.

The party of Lincoln and Reagan, arguably the two most important men of the previous two centuries, is now gone. Perhaps never to return, although as a Christian I always hold out hope for a resurrection. The ideals of faith, family and freedom — enshrined in its platform from the very beginning — have been replaced by a dirtbag megalomaniac’s quest for ultimate self-actualization. Or America’s sleaziest reality television show although I repeat myself.

But it’s not Donald Trump’s fault any more than it’s the fault of your pet scorpion when it stings you. After all, it takes a special kind of stupid to allow an animal with a poisonous stinger close enough to do that to you in the first place. The scorpion is simply being a scorpion. You, on the other hand, are supposed to know better.

However, the 21st century Republican Party hasn’t been nicknamed “the surrender caucus” by conservatives for nothing. Like a fly on stink, if there’s a fresh new level of suck to embrace, count on the Republican Party to go for it with gusto.

Thus, in a strange way the nomination of an inveterate liberal like Trump is probably the most GOP thing ever. We have finally reached peak failure theater.

How else do you explain countering the Democrats nominating the most disliked and distrusted presidential candidate in recent memory by settling on the one guy in the race Americans loathe even more?

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We were ripe for the pickings from a con man like Trump, so give the devil his due. He knows an easy mark when he sees one. How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways:

A feckless batch of fake conservative media stars for sale to the highest bidder, willing to carry your water? Check.

A network that is “fair and balanced” in name only, which is willing to basically become your Super PAC? Check.

A racial group who’ve lost their jobs and seen their wages decline, who are vulnerable to what is essentially Louis Farrakhan for white people? Check.

A celebrity-driven culture of low-information voters that Obama proved is ripe for the pickings? Check.

Throw in conservatism losing its moral authority because we’ve already compromised ourselves into oblivion for “electable” Republicans in the past. We lost the means by which to hold a Trump type accountable since we taught the culture that conservatism and the GOP were one in the same. Every time the GOP failed the country, so did we.

And now the lesser of two evils has become the evils of two lessers.

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It’s a sad day for America, but also deserved. We have been going out of our way to let go of everything that made us exceptional for quite some time now. Kicking the God our rights come from out of everything, and trashing our constitution. Not to mention dumbing down our kids (at least the ones we don’t kill before they’re born), while becoming a debtor nation. It’s clear we have little to no interest in conserving what made us the greatest nation on earth, so why not throw it away on an election between Hillary Clinton and her donor?

Some anti-establishment revolution this election turned out to be.

So in honor of yesterday being Star Wars Day, conservatism will go into temporary exile just like the Skywalker twins. Waiting for when the time is right to take on the empire, and our champions are prepared to mount a rebellion. Unfortunately, that’s not likely to happen until America gets what it’s asking for and chokes on it.

Conservatism’s role in the 2016 election is now over while the idiocracy takes it from here.

Steve Deace, who supported Ted Cruz for president, is a nationally syndicated host on Salem Radio Network. He is a former Des Moines Register reporter and author of the new thriller A Nefarious Plot.

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