a very interesting comment

Saw this on Instapundit—a comment describing the "story arc" of the GOP over time (copied here, but lightly edited for style):

GOP Establishment 2000-2007:"You know what America wants? Endless wars, nation building and global policing, outsourcing to China, integration of China to the global economy and ours, open borders, an endless supply of cheap illegal labor, mass amnesty, massive growth in government bureaucracy and spending and deficits, the Patriot Act and total surveillance, bailouts for our Wall Street cronies, and tax cuts. Don't forget the tax cuts. If we give them tax cuts, they won't complain about all the garbage policies and graft and pork. That, my friends, is a winning formula. What could possibly go wrong?"

GOP Establishment 2008: "Man, what a wipeout. Guess the American people didn't like our garbage policies and corruption as much as we thought. Don't be discouraged, though. Sure, the Democrats may hold a super-majority, but they will still give us our ration of graft and pork to keep us from getting too uppity."

GOP Establishment 2010: "The Tea Party carried us back to power. Didn't see that coming! We're back in charge of the graft and pork gravy train! Woo-hoo! Get the band back together! Let the good times roll! And don't worry about the Tea Partier demands. We can safely ignore them. Who else could they possibly turn to? The Democrats? Pfft. They got nobody but us."

GOP Establishment in 2012: "Let's help Democrats get rid of the Tea Party. Sure, they helped us retake Congress in 2010, but now they're a threat to our graft and pork. They actually expect us to fight for their demands! LOL. Rubes. Democrats can stab them in the front while we stab them in the back."

GOP Establishment 2016: "Let's help Democrats stop Trump. He built a coalition of Tea Partiers and Rust Belt working class people who are a threat to the special deals and corrupt institutions that generate all our pork and graft. His coalition is getting angry, and we might not be able to gain control over them again. And we all know Hillary ain't so bad. Democrats can stab him in the front while we stab him in the back."

GOP Establishment 2017: "Can you believe that Bad Orange Man actually won? No way. The Democrats are right. We need to get to the bottom of Putin's meddling in our election on Trump's behalf. We fully support the special-counsel investigation, and Bob Mueller is a friend of ours. Bob is the only squeaky-clean saint in The Swamp. An old-school G-Man whose word you can take to the bank. You can trust him and his team of Clinton Machine lawyers to be objective and truthful."

GOP Establishment 2018 "Oh, crap. We thought Trump would already be gone by now. And Mueller is dragging out that sham investigation through the midterms to help Democrats retake Congress. Sure, we rode Trump's coattails to victory in 2016, but that Russian Collusion hoax we helped the Democrats spread has boomeranged back on us. It's not even worth running for re-election, so I'm retiring from Congress to join a K Street lobbyist firm. Time to cash out."

GOP Establishment 2020: "Let's help Democrats get rid of Trump. If he gets a second term, he won't need us any more. He'll throw us under the bus and reform the GOP. McCain's staffers and all the neocons can start a project of "Republicans" to provide cover for Democrat demagoguery and lies. We'll call it the Lincoln Project because anything named after Honest Abe will be trusted by the rubes. They can stab him in the front while we stab him in the back."

GOP Establishment 2021: "Trump is an unhinged one-term loser who tried to overthrow good old Uncle Joe—who we can now assure you was legitimately elected—with a violent insurrection. You supporters of his used to be nice, polite, servile Tea Partiers. But now you're all mean, angry, dangerous nutjobs. You need to calm down and line up back behind us because...wait for it... Democrats are bad and we're all you got. Can't we all be friends again for the midterms if we promise to repeal Obamacare?"

I've been meaning to write about the extent to which I blame the GOP, and the right in general, for the current state of affairs.  The usual caveats apply:  when I dump on the left in a blanket way, I acknowledge there are exceptions who don't deserve my scorn, and the same holds true for when I eventually blast the right for its role in the current shittiness.  Stay tuned.  I have a lot to say about this very rich topic.