RIP GOP as Trumpism routs Reaganism

Washington

IT SOUNDS like a cliché. But American politics has never been driven by ideological forces. The goal of the two major political parties - the Republicans and the Democrats, loose coalitions of interest groups vying for power - has to been to win elections; not to foster political change.

The Democrats have leaned a bit to the political left while the Republicans (or the Grand Old Party, GOP) incline to the political right. But both parties have evolved as centrist political movements, with their political bosses coming to the same conclusion: Americans aren't into ideology and gravitate to pragmatic politicians.

That explains why political figures could easily switch party membership as well as their positions on central policy issues. Retired generals would negotiate with the two parties before deciding which would serve more effectively their political interests. Hence, president Ronald Reagan, considered today a political icon o…