President Donald Trump has pursued every legal means he or his lawyers or his advisors can think of to stay in office - to no avail. Trump will be leaving office on January 20, 2021 but we still don't know what's in store until then and if he'll attend the inauguration of Joe Biden or have his own rally to kick off his "race to return" to the Oval Office in 2024 on Inauguration Day.  Trump will have alot of choices what he does with his time but there's no question he will be raising money to pay the debts that have become public knowledge in 2020. He'll also have to allocate some time and money to fend off civil and possible criminal charges for things done the last four years or before. They all build a library, but with the unconventional Trump style who knows - maybe a theme park instead.  Then there's the obligatory presidential memoir. No doubt there's gonna be some real estate deals, most probably of an international destination some have speculated. He professes to want to continue to control the Republican Party with his money, his political machinery and his 40 million or so MAGA fan base. With all that and a few more choices we'll mention in this episode who knows if he'll be in the mood to rerun in 2024. But that doesn't mean there won't be the beginnings of a Trump Family Political Dynasty very soon. They say once it gets in your blood...Don Junior is the one talked about the most, but there has been talk of Eric or Ivanka or Lara running for various position. Baron will have to wait a little while as young as he is. We've had Roosevelts, Kennedys and Bushes. Why not a few generations of Trumps? History is uneven though. Some families have been able to keep public service in the family for generations, while others try and come up short. Few remember Charles Adams run for President in 1872 or Theodore Roosevelt Junior's attempts to follow in TR's footsteps. But in what party will all these Trumps run? In today's episode are some of the history making actions of the Republican Party to kill itself. If it doesn't survive it looks to be a combination of self-mutilation and a push or two by Trump over the cliff. A fracturing of MAGA Nation from the traditional Republican Party may be what Trump wants 1) to control his base without interference, and 2) to seek retribution on Republicans who were not sufficiently loyal to him at his end. 

Thomas Patterson has been studying the Democratic and Republican Parties his entire career. He is the author of college textbooks as well as political books like this one that are made for all of us to read and learn from. The subtitle is "And why it needs to reclaim its conservative ideals." Patterson has identified how the Republican Party is facing traps on all sides that threaten its very existence more than ever before after 160 years.  Those traps are the Demographic, the Ideological, the Moral, the Media and the Money Trap. Patterson sees ways for the Party to avoid them and survive, but the evidence they will avoid them is open for debate -- for listeners of the Bigger Tent Podcast and anyone watching what some would call a a political train wreck of possibly epic proportions.  In this podcast we'll hear why Patterson feels this book was so important at this point in time.  We ask the author who he thinks is the conservative party today -- the answer may surprise you. Hear what Professor Patterson thinks about a day of reckoning for the Party of Lincoln.  Previously on the Bigger Tent Podcast we mentioned the Federalist Party and more deeply examined the Whig Party. Does the author feel today's Republican Party will mirror one or both of them? Well listen, of course. Ronald Reagan successfully built and invited likeminded people into his bigger tent of a party using a three legged stool of social issues, military strength and fiscal restraint.  Does Dr. Patterson think the GOP can again build such a big tent?  Republicans today have cast aside civic norms installed and required by the Founding Fathers and used to the benefit of the nation throughout our history, such as compromise, negotiation and forbearance. Patterson has some opinions about this for sure.  No discussion of the landscape of the current Republican Party would be complete without addressing how Donald Trump's intentions following his loss may "freeze" the Party and prevent it from learning, growing and finding its way to a Bigger Tent Party of like-minded conservatives and others reinventing itself by standing on a solid foundation of core values, but poised to address our challenges with new and creative conservative solutions.

Does Talk Radio and Fox News report what the Republican Party is doing...promote what conservatives and the party are doing...or tell the Party what to do? Are they doing it with a passion for the politics or is it a business proposition? And what do Polish hams have to do with all this anyway?  Its an interesting story how a man from the Outback came to be a king maker along with Rush Limbaugh.  More importantly let's discuss how Talk Radio and Fox have changed the Republican Party. Decide for yourself if it's for the better. A new chapter is about to begin with Republicans back in the minority.  Will anything change for the power players of Talk Radio and Fox or will Trump TV hit the airwaves and scramble everything? 

We are starting to explore the troubles that are plaguing the modern Republican Party. This is not an exercise in piling on because we are like Washington's spies - secretly on the other side. For too long being on the ''team" meant you had to ignore the warts on her nose and convince yourself she was still the fairest of all. Our intentions are not without a positive motive. We are not haters, but we want to look honestly at 1) who we are and how we got here, 2) determine whether it is that bad, and 3) talk about our options.
We finished up talking about all of the efforts that are going on to suppress the vote.  Voter suppression is as old as the Republic, but the size and scope make this a dark period on the subject. Say what you want but it is the Republicans who are suppressing and the Democrats who are working to get everything with a pulse to the polls. If you want to cry foul for some of their tactics fine, but they are not in the business, the nasty, sad, shameful business of trying to win by taking away the right that begets all other rights: the vote.
Most of our episode though is a deeper dive into the world of conspiracies  old and new. The newest being that which they call QAnon.  With roots that are over a hundred years old the QAnon movement is barely 3 years young itself, but it more than makes up for its youth with its outrageous claims and intentions.  One of many amazing things is the warm embrace many members of the Republican Party are giving it.  We will expose to you exactly what the true beliefs are of the QAnon movement. Prepare to be amazed - at them and the Republican Party for serving as their enabler and giving them a political home. 
Included are some shining examples of people calling out truth to power. They stand out because they have been few and far between and because they may be instructive for someone today who's taking notes and may soon be taking names.  Joseph Welch who stared down Joseph McCarthy and made a madman blink. John McCain criticized so often for his gut reactions, showing us there are things at least as important as winning. William F. Buckley - a quirky manner, a razor sharp wit and the intelligence and backbone to call out a fellow conservative who was running their budding movement into a ditch.

The Whig Party's end has some interesting parallels to the Republican Party today.  Daniel Webster and Henry Clay were the establishment types. They were the Jeb Bush and John Kasich of their day.  The Whigs passed them up to nominate a crude and unprofessional candidate that would not tow the party line and had never held elective office.  Zachery Taylor, a hero of the Mexican Wars was their nominee. They won but it was always said that the party chose power over principles. Hmmm.  The Whig Party's whole history included that growing difficulty of both parties and the country to resolve the issue of slavery. It could be said that we have no single issue today compares. All we have today is a raging pandemic, a mountain of mail-in ballots to count, a postal service compromised from the top, voter suppression such as we have not seen since the height of Jim Crow, foreign interference in our elections, civil unrest in cities across the country and the first ever president who says he may not go peacefully if he loses.  Add them all up and perhaps our situation is as dire as that of the Whigs.  Those who do no learn from history are condemned to repeat it. So tune in and learn more about the current state of conservatism and Republican Party. 

Today - Election Day - the discussion begins: Is the  Republican Party the best home for conservatives anymore? Is the Republican brand so soiled conservatives must seek other options. For that matter what are conservatives in the 2020s?  Post Trump the players and coalitions must take a hard look at who they want to share their shrinking tent with and who is best to lead them out of the wilderness they enter today. 

Conservatives and current and former Republicans can embrace these difficult times to forge new alliances, bring new energy and advance creative and ingenious policies that are steeped in conservative values at the same time they meet Americans where they live and solve real problems. They can also choose to accept the status quo and become a minority party and movement for the near-term or permanently. To get our heads around it all we must build a foundation of understanding about how we got here, assess how bad the situation is and explore the options we have to rise again. 

Our history - distant and recent - matters, as does our successes and our failures, which we must own.  But our focus must not be lost on the future. What is our path to bring about an effective and entirely practical conservatism that will enable this nation to realize its aspirational ideals? 

These are the exciting questions we will explore and roll up or sleeves to resolve together.