Trump divorces the GOP and forms the ‘Party of Trump’

In the last days of this election Trump has done it again. A hat trick none of us expected. He has divorced the Republican Party and formed the “Party of Trump” — a party I will not be joining. The Trump phenomenon is something that will be discussed for the next 50 years. Some have called it a movement, others called it a racist faction, and I call it the “Party of Trump.”

I’ve watched this movement from day one. On Jun. 16, 2015, I recall being on air when the host of the program, Thom Hartmann, announced Donald Trump was running for president. I was aware of this from news alerts earlier in the day, but had not seen the footage of his campaign announcement. While the short clip played on air my mouth opened wide. Never had I seen a candidate make such politically incorrect statements. He said, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. … They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

I said on air that night that no one would take Trump seriously. I wasn’t the only pundit who said it. Week after week, I watched Trump make one inflammatory statement after another. Some of the things he said I agreed with, others, not so much. As this went on, he lost business deal after business deal, and normally that would be enough for a newcomer to stop and reform their candidacy or drop out of the race completely.

He didn’t, which endeared him to his supporters even more. In fact, I wrote a piece on him published in Aug. 2015 titled, “Why the Republican base has a tie to Trump that won’t break.” I said, “The tie that binds Donald Trump and the Republican base is stronger than any of us political experts could have ever imagined. I understand it. The base feels as though they have been bamboozled by the GOP.” I also said, “The base wants to abrogate business as usual for the party and stick with The Donald until the end — even though it is unlikely Trump can win a general election.”

I later received a panicked call from my editor saying Donald Trump was trying to reach me. Unbeknownst to me, Trump had read my piece and loved it. He wanted to send me a thank you note. This further proved, in my mind, that Trump was nothing like the typical candidate running for president.