In August 2017, West Virginia Democratic Governor Jim Justice, after a term of family scandal and growing Trumpism in WV, changed his party alliance to Republican before his term had ended. Fast Forward to 2020 post Capital Riots and MSNBC’s Dean Obeidallah writes the headline “Why Democrats Should Thank Donald Trump.”

He makes the point, that in Trump’s attempt to “make America great again”, he destroyed the Republican party. He’s not the only one. New polling by Ipsos released on Thursday found that 51 percent of Americans view the actions of Trump’s supporters as an attempted coup. Additionally, 70 percent of Americans said they opposed the violent insurrection. At the same time, the polling found that 19 percent of Americans backed the riot.

Overwhelmingly most Americans today are upset with the actions of the terrorist during the Capital riots, but what of those before us. Those that lived and died for a free and fair democratic country? What disrespectful legacy the actions of the former President of Terrorist will be echoed thru history, but for now, despite the efforts to not hold him accountable, it’s those same Republicans that may lose.

Many reports say that Trump blames a number of Republicans for voting for his second impeachment and some have even stated his distaste for the rioters that choose to show up for his cause. It has also been suggested that Trump is weighing the option of forming his own political party, full of all his rag-tag terrorists. The Patriot Party aka. The Treason Party.

That move would take the MAGA out of the Republican party, but the destruction of the GOP will not stop there.

Former Rep. Justin Amash, who repeatedly sparred with President Trump during his time in office, called Thursday for Republicans to join the Libertarian Party.

Mr. Amash represented Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District from 2011 to 2021. He was a Republican but ended up leaving the party and becoming an independent in 2019 before officially joining the Libertarian Party last year over his opposition to Mr. Trump. 

“The GOP isn’t getting better anytime soon. If you’re a Republican who’s had enough, join me in the Libertarian Party. Reach out to me. I’m happy to answer questions about making the switch. We’re readying to make a big impact over the next few years,” he said on Twitter. 

For moderate Republicans and Democrats, this isn’t the worst idea. Though from experience with one of our writers formerly of the Libertarian Republic mentioned a couple of years back, the Libertarian party had, during the Bush era, been hijacked by the GOP, but since there has been a push post-Gary, Johnson, to reestablish the Libertarian platform principles.

 After living through and witnessing the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said “something’s wrong” nationally – and he places at least part of the blame at the feet of former President Donald Trump.

“If you can still be a Trump supporter after seeing the incitement of a seditious insurrection, somethings’s wrong,” he said in an interview last week with CNHI West Virginia newspapers, also expressing hope the Republican Party can move away from Trump and find its “footing” once again.

Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat that has served often at times unrecognizable from most Republicans to most Democratic voters, went on to say, “My oath of office was not pledged to one person,” he said. “We are not a monarchy. We are not a dictatorship. We are not an autocracy. We are a Republic. That means you and I own it, we are responsible for it. Why turn it over to somebody?”

After 2 Weeks of the Capital Riots, WV County officials and Elections officials said, 2573 Republican voters, left the Republican party. 1895 registered as Libertarian, 420 registered as Democratic, 127 as Independent 89 to Green Party and remaining 41 to other 3rd parties. A staggering, often under-reported fact, despite WV is one of the biggest Trump-voting states in 2016 and 2020, but much less so in 2020 with its largest county Mongolia and city of Morgantown, almost flipping. A major shift for WV given Trump won WV in 2020 by 68% to Biden’s 29.7% but in Morgantown area, south of Pittsburg, Trump ended with 49% to Biden’s 48%. It would be the only county his support was not over 50%.

A side note about Morgantown. Not only is it the largest city, but one of the most diverse, most economically stable in the state and home to WVU.

Three weeks after the riot at the U.S. Capitol, voting data from North Carolina showed nearly 6,000 voters in the state changed their registration from Republican to another party.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections numbers revealed between Jan. 7, the day after the riot, and Jan. 22, the North Carolina Republican Party lost a net of 5,855 voters, with most of them registering as unaffiliated, according to the News & Observer. The changes follow a similar pattern in other states, including Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Catawba College politics professor Michael Bitzer said voters may be sending a signal to the state and national Republican party.

“Republicans tend to be the most solidly loyal to the party, and the past couple of weeks may have tested that party loyalty,” Bitzer said. “Even though they may still be Republican voters, ultimately, perhaps they’re looking for that safe haven of, ‘I’m unaffiliated, so I can’t get pegged one way or the other.’”

Nationally, Tens of thousands of voters have become former Republicans as well this month in states including Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina, Maryland, Colorado, Florida, West Virginia, and South Carolina according to a Wednesday report from The Hill, citing state statistics.

In Pennsylvania, almost 10,000 Republicans had parted ways with the GOP by January 25. Of those, 3,476 changed their registration to the Democratic Party, while the rest moved to a third party or remained unaffiliated.

Many Republicans have strongly denounced the deadly Capitol breach. Despite widespread condemnation of violence at the Capitol, there is no indication that a majority of Republicans have made any moves to leave or distance themselves from the party. Many had also supported at least some of Trump’s false claims about election fraud, and following the insurrection, only a small fraction said that they no longer support the former president.

One thing is for certain, the party that once proclaimed itself the most loyal patriotic Americans are now the party of Terrorist and despite if there will be a Trump 3rd party or not, the future does not look the same for today’s GOP.

Therefore I must agree, that while the Republicans have been a hypocritical thorn in American culture for decades, they may be less of a problem once the smoke clears. Regardless, it’s doubtful there’s no reason this treason should ever be forgotten.