When Abraham Lincoln referenced these words in one of his most famous speeches, he was referring to how far the country was being divided by partisan politics. Lincoln believed that the foundations of America couldn’t hold together if those in charge of the nation were preoccupied with fighting amongst their fellow Americans. While these words served as a warning to a polarized country, these same words should be applied to the modern-day party for which Lincoln served as its original leader.
The modern-day republican party is in desperate need of this warning now more than ever. Currently, the party is facing a major leadership and cohesion problem as it starts the process of leading as the majority party of the House of Representatives heading into 2023. The party itself is facing a similar problem that the Democratic Party has been facing for the past decade, the rise of extremist politics.
Over the last few years, the Democratic Party has seen a rise in left-wing progressive factions within its party, with big names such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders becoming more popular with their ideas of a socialist economy and progressive woke culture battles. While these progressive Democrats have gained some political ground over the past few years, they have often still fallen short of establishment moderate candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.
While many centrist independents and especially Republican conservatives saw this rise of a more extreme left-wing movement as being a danger to American politics, a similar problem is currently rising within the Republican Party. After Trump lost the 2020 election and proceeded to accuse the election of being rigged, a new wave of extreme right-wing factions within the GOP began to form. People such as Marjorie Taylor Green and Matt Gaetz began spreading the false narrative of a rigged election and declared their loyalty to former president Donald Trump.
A lot of modern problems found within the Republican Party can be found with Trump. His policies were favored by many Republicans and criticized by many Democrats, a typical arrangement of a party getting behind its president. It was Trump’s personality and character, however, that turned a lot of people off from the Republican brand. After losing the election, Trump would go to criticize Republicans who did not stand behind him and would go on to endorse unpopular candidates during the 2022 midterms. While many Trump-endorsed candidates lost their midterm elections, Trump himself blamed the more moderate Republican Party for the poor midterm performances.
This new division between the moderate Republican faction and the Trump-backed extreme right-wing faction is ultimately leading to a more divisive and dysfunctional Republican Party. This has been demonstrated by the recent election of Kevin McCarthy as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Despite having a majority within the chamber, it took 15 different votes before McCarthy was elected to his position as the radical members of his own party viewed him as unfit for leadership.
The modern Republican Party is currently being divided from the inside between moderate and radical politicians. This has led the party itself to become weak and disorganized, as shown by its embarrassing performance in the 2022 midterms as well as needing to hold multiple votes to even elect a leader for a majority that is barely holding on. If the party itself does not come together under a single ideology with a secure structure leading it forward, then it will only continue to divide the country itself more, leading to more polarization in American life.
