I didn't become a Republican to 'own the libs' with Kavanaugh. So I'm leaving the GOP. The Republican Party has adopted Donald Trump's zero-sum approach to politics. But with fights this ugly, it turns out you can get tired of winning.

Stephen Kent | Opinion contributor

Show Caption Hide Caption Analysis: Court mood jovial as Brett Kavanaugh starts Brett Kavanaugh took the bench with his new Supreme Court colleagues for the first time Tuesday in a jovial atmosphere that was strikingly at odds with the tension and rancor surrounding his high court confirmation. AP's Mark Sherman explains. (Oct. 9)

The Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court on Oct. 6, after sexual assault allegations surfaced against the judge. The battle for the votes of a few key senators was exceedingly bitter, pitting the principle of due process and the #MeToo movement against each other in a fight for control of the high court.

I believed simultaneously that Christine Blasey Ford was a credible accuser, that Kavanaugh was owed a certain presumption of innocence, and that the right thing for the White House to do was withdraw the nomination. The GOP ended up pulling off a purely partisan victory in confirming Kavanaugh — but it came at too high a cost for even a Republican like me to stomach.

I have been a Republican since the twin towers fell when I was just 11 years old. Through my college years and into a professional life working in politics, I’ve maintained my status as a registered Republican. But after it became clear that Sen. Susan Collins of Maine would join the rest of her GOP colleagues in voting for Kavanaugh, something changed. I left the Republican party — and I don’t foresee going back. It turns out, you can get tired of winning.

The GOP's obsession with "owning the libs"

Despite the upsides of his presidency, like tax cuts and broad deregulatory efforts, Donald Trump has always presented the most obvious reason to pull the parachute — but I’ve always believed in the fight to better the GOP. After the 2012 election, I wanted to help in expanding the party tent, in making the GOP more inclusive, and in thinking ahead to a less white America. But we all know what happened next.

When the Republican base doubled down on its worst instincts in backing Trump, I felt the fight for the soul of the GOP was more important than ever. Our country can’t abide with an increasingly authoritarian Democratic Party and a Republican Party whose response is to say “hold my beer.”

So why exit the GOP now, years later? A Republican president offering cover to neo-Nazis after the rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was pretty nauseating. I still can’t forget Trump’s pardon of Joe Arpaio or emphatic endorsement of Roy Moore. If you go by the running list of nasty things the Republican de facto leader has said or done, obviously that would seem like ample reason to have left long ago.

More: Mob rule? Forget it. The First Amendment is not a license to protest anywhere, anytime.

Get real — the Supreme Court has always been a political and partisan institution

Hillary Clinton wants a war on civility? That will cost Democrats, big time

There were several compelling reasons to stay put. I told myself that this too will pass. Trump is temporary, and Republicans who remember what free markets and immigration are good for, still exist. Another element behind my political lethargy was the raw power of identity. The intensity by which party affiliation can underpin other core pillars of your identity cannot be understated. When your entire social network and reputation since adolescence is linked to one party, the idea of changing it is legitimately terrifying.

But our system of government can no longer handle the all-consuming need to win, suppress and destroy by Republicans and Democrats in Washington. Kavanaugh didn’t have to be the Republican’s be-all, end-all in pursuit of "owning the libs."

Supreme Court nominees have been dumped or withdrawn many times before, but this time it had to be do or die. Passions over Kavanaugh were inflamed not just out of a sense of injustice, but because the pursuit of domination requires ownership of the courts. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's success in getting Kavanaugh across the finish line despite sexual assault allegations was not the kind of moment where’d you’d expect a victory party. Yet the popping of corks ensued anyway across social media and hotel bars throughout D.C.

Republicans won, Democrats lost. But who is asking if the country won anything?

No pride in this Republican Supreme Court win

This was a national trauma during a time of unbelievable divide between both civic and cultural institutions. The Supreme Court has been a hot topic and a considerably emotional one for conservatives ever since abortion was rubber-stamped by the court with Roe v. Wade, but it’s fair to say trust in the legitimacy of the court has never been universally in question.

Yet the next phase in our national splintering is going to be the rejection of our law’s legitimacy, in a way we’ve never seen before. What happens when not just activists but even your run-of-the-mill congressmen are pushing the idea that the Supreme Court is bought off by the other team?

Still, it’s not entirely clear to me why the Kavanaugh confirmation debacle was the final straw in my strained relationship with the Republican Party. But at the end of the day, your affiliations and associations should bring you a sense of pride — and there was nothing dignified about this win for Republicans.

I’m not sure what’s next in my own political journey, but I know it won’t be within the two major parties that gleefully destroyed the lives of multiple families in a single month. It’ll be an adjustment, but I’ll be happier on my own — and I think you would be too.

Stephen Kent is the spokesperson for Young Voices. Follow him on Twitter @Stephen_Kent89.