Republicans have been known as the GOP for over 150 years. According to historians, as early as the 1870s, the Republican Party was referred to as either the “grand old party” or the “gallant old party” to emphasize its role in preserving the Union during the Civil War.
The Republican Party of Minnesota, for instance, adopted a platform in 1874 that it said “guarantees that the grand old party that saved the country is still true to the principles that gave it birth.”
However, that party has been murdered and its grave marker reads, “Here lies a party that once thought itself grand murdered by those who tried to be great, but failed.”
Republicans need to be reminded of their founding values. The Republican Party was formed as an anti-slavery party. They were against the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which would let each territory determine whether to allow slavery. The founders of the Republican Party wanted to stop the expansion of slavery because they believed it was against the ideals of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Some founders of the Republican Party even wanted to abolish slavery everywhere in the United States.
And, yes, Mr. Trump, Republican president William McKinley once supported tariffs to protect the United States’ tinplate industry, but as the country expanded and interacted with the world, he soon realized the folly of that continuing practice. Prior to McKinley’s assassination in 1901, he said this: “The period of exclusiveness is past. The expansion of our trade and commerce is the pressing problem. Commercial wars are unprofitable. A policy of good will and friendly trade relations will prevent reprisals. Reciprocity treaties are in harmony with the spirit of the times, measures of retaliation are not.”
The Republican Party is no longer the GOP, the Grand Old Party; it is truly the POT, the Party of Trump.
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