Speculation is rampant about how Donald Trump will change the Republican Party. Trump says he’ll make it a workers’ party (read: white workers). Others fuss that he’ll make the GOP less serious. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is not concerned:
"My view is that Trump will not change the Republican Party," McConnell says, describing it as "America's right-of-center party." "If he brings in new followers, that's great, and well worth the effort, but he will not change the Republican Party."
You know why Trump isn’t going to change the Republican Party? Because he’s already a good representative of the party. Trump’s nativism, bigotry, misogyny … these were all already part of the Republican message. We can say that Trump has moved those positions from dog whistle to bullhorn, but the reality is that plenty of Republican politicians were already using the bullhorn—think Reps. Steve King and Louie Gohmert, or Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, or North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, or—well, the House Republican caucus. The Republican Party made Trump the force he is. They own him, and now they get to reckon with him owning them.