Political Wire

  • Front Page
  • Trending
  • Reader Wire
  • Members
    • Subscribe
    • Sign In
  • Contact Us
You are here: Home / Republicans / How the GOP Became the Party of Insurrection

How the GOP Became the Party of Insurrection

January 7, 2024 at 10:06 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Dan Pfeiffer: “Three years later, the Republican Party is now an insurrectionist party. Trump is stronger than ever and the undisputed leader. He is more popular among Republicans than during his presidency and leading Joe Biden in the polls — something that never happened during the 2020 cycle. Nearly every Republican of consequence has endorsed his presidential campaign; and even those yet to endorse him explicitly or implicitly, endorsed the idea that the 2020 election was stolen. The few Republicans who actively stood up to Trump have been drummed out of the primary…”

“Standing by the Big Lie that led to January 6th is the price of admission into the GOP. You have to either believe the election was stolen or pretend to believe it. Apocalyptic rhetoric and kooky conspiracies are the norm…”

“The process by which the Republican Party went from shunning Trump to embracing him and his authoritarian, anti-democratic rhetoric happened steadily and stunningly. Trump’s second rise to power is a metaphor for everything that is wrong with the Republican Party. Trump didn’t reclaim the Republican Party by force. Instead, party leaders handed it to him out of cynical convenience and pure cowardice.”

FavoriteLoadingSave to Favorites
  • Bluesky
  • X
  • Threads
  • Facebook
  • Email

Filed Under: Republicans, Trump Legacy

« Quote of the Day
Pentagon’s Ukraine Coffers Run Dry »

Your Account

Sign in

Members Only

  • One Party Has a Boss
  • Redistricting Scrambles Ballot Access Rules
  • The Leftward Lurch That Wasn’t
  • Weekly News Quiz
  • Trump’s Grip Starts to Slip

Trial Balloon

Add Trial Balloon to your podcast player to get new episodes each week.


About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

Praise for Political Wire

“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”

— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”

“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”

— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report

“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”

— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report

“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”

— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia

“Political Wire is a great, great site.”

— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”

“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”

— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post

“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”

— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit

“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”

— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.

Copyright © 2026 · Goddard Media LLC | Privacy Policy | Corrections Policy

Political Wire ® is a registered trademark of Goddard Media LLC