It’s tempting to assume these are confusing and uncertain times to identify as Republican.

Indictments, inquiries, expungements, obstruction, interference, seditious conspiracy, racketeering and stomping on basic human rights; it doesn’t inspire faith in the integrity of the Grand Old Party. Add to the mix Marjorie/Santos/Boebert, sprinkle in a pinch of Jim Jordan, some half-baked Elise Stefanik, dashes of outright racism from Tommy Tuberville and Eli Crane and you have one messed up political casserole.

And stirring the pot is a former president indicted for numerous crimes against the Constitution, who is revered by nearly half the country and loathed by others. Will Donald Trump go to jail? It could happen and he could still be elected president. I know, right? The Constitution has three provisions regarding presidential candidate qualifiers: The person must be at least 35 years old, born in the United States and a U.S. resident for at least 14 years. There is a clause in the 14th Amendment about participating in an insurrection rendering a person ineligible to run for president, but its application is debatable.

Trump says he’s innocent, the evidence suggests otherwise, and it will be interesting to see which friends and family members claim the righteous path while saving their own a** and tell the truth under oath. The Republican Party has largely backed the former president no matter how damning the charges. The Jan. 6 insurrection indictment makes clear it was an attempted coup. Many, if not a majority, of the former president’s supporters are OK with that. Rep. Matt Gaetz recently called for the use of force to “take back the country.” Trump loyalists feel such violent threats are justified by claiming the other side is corrupt.

The current Republican party is often a House divided, but is unified in seeking control through punishment; bills are introduced to eliminate long-fought-for, basic human rights. Freedom of choice is eroding in the hands of sadistic old men. People are being denied the right to be who they are, fostering suppression rather than allowing expression. The desire of Trump’s Republican Party to shape the country in their image is a not pretty picture of frightened, greedy, repressive, anti-LGBTQ-plus, bigoted, intolerant, hypocritical crackpots telling us what to do.

Tainting the picture is the possibility their leader is a traitor. In Bizzaro Republican World, rather than question Trump’s alliances and demand answers pertaining to his corruption, his Congressional allies make unverified claims about the Biden Crime Family. Hunter Biden has a shady past, but if Republicans really care about influence peddling and illegal business practices, they should investigate the Trump kids and Jared Kushner as well. Or perhaps politics has become more about what you can get away with than having anything to do with fairness. Republicans claim a double standard. And they’re right; they employ one often, coming across as spoiled rich kids ranting about being treated unfairly when all they’ve known is privilege. If the former president is innocent, what is the Republican party afraid of? In his efforts to deny any wrongdoing, Trump’s defensive strategy seems to be based either on being defiant or deranged; Yeah, I did it, what’s the big deal? National security, trying to steal an election or inciting a riot are big deals. And saying Trump is too delusional to accept reality just might work, but … huh? The logical thing to do is let the cases proceed, find out what actual evidence there is and let the juries decide.

Instead, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is mulling over bringing impeachment proceedings against Joe Biden but can’t find a reason to. The once-proud party of Lincoln looks foolish ignoring what’s there, wishing it were otherwise and trying to persuade voters to believe in hat doesn’t exist. It’s not just tilting at windmills; it’s being blown away by them.

And the reality is Trump could be convicted and receive a lengthy prison sentence. If the former president did sell classified information to a foreign power and the mountain of evidence is too large for even the most fervent followers to ignore, will they still support him? Trump continues to incite his followers to commit violence and few Republicans refute his inflammatory rhetoric. His supporters worship the former president because he won’t accept losing and will cheat and lie to win by any means necessary. Are those admirable traits? When it dawns on the multitudes that Trump is a false deity, MAGA world could be hit hard. Trump’s gotten away with so much already and his avoidance of accountability may continue, but in a scenario almost too conclusive to contemplate, the former president could end up behind bars. It would be an appropriately astonishing end to a contemporary American parable of how the mighty have fallen, brought down by facts and dealt with by the tenacious law of the land.

Either way, champagne will be flowing for one side while the other eats crow. Republicans are serving up large portions or retribution, vitriol, hatred and intolerance with intimidation, weaponization and retaliation on the side. There is a notable absence of compassion, a lack of legislative responsibility and the GOP presidential frontrunner is leading his party in the distribution of incessant whine.

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Michael DeDivitis lives in Rainbow Lake.