Concerned that Americans might not fully grasp the relationship between Trump and mainstream conservatism, a group of Trumpists deployed a massive golden idol to the Conservative Political Action Conference, which began in Orlando on Friday.
If you’re not familiar with the Bible story of the Golden Calf, the gist is that some folks built a big calf of gold to worship because they weren’t so keen on this “Yahweh” fella who claimed to be the One God, and He responded by saying maybe they should all just be cast into fire. Moses pleas for his people and says they’re just lost, and that’s more or less that (this isn’t a Bible review, that’s what Wikipedia is for).
There’s been a lot of speculation about how the Republican Party will move beyond Trump. But the speculation is kind of dying down. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said Donald Trump instigated a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol and should have been convicted if he was still in office when the impeachment trial against him occurred, said he would vote for Trump if he was the nominee in 2024. Maine Senator Susan Collins faces a censure for voting to impeach Trump, and columnists are lining up to tell Mitt Romney to get out of the party because it just doesn’t care about anyone except Donald Trump. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has been ostracized for criticizing Trump’s refusal to yield power.
What do the former vice president of the United States, the Republican presidential nominee from less than a decade ago, a former South Carolina governor, and the daughter of arguably the most powerful vice president in history have in common? None of them are at this year’s CPAC, each trying to figure out how to navigate a party that has becoming solely a vehicle to idolize the world’s worst con artist.
But since some people seem to still have hope that there’s such a thing as a “post-Trump Republican Party,” we now have the giant golden Donald Trump idol to make things crystal clear: Trump is the leader of the Party, thou shalt place no other Republicans before Him.
