New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman has never passed up a chance to trash the Republican Party and so during Sunday’s Meet the Press, he suggested that “maybe this party needs to crash and burn and this version of the Republican Party needs to die” in order for it to be reborn into a more competitive party against Democrats (translation: reshape their ideology).
Friedman’s comments were prompted by Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd wondering who would lead the Republican Party if the liberals dream scenario occurs on November 8 and the Democrats seize not only the White House but also the House and Senate.
“[I]t's a long shot. Not since ‘52 has the House changed hands in a presidential election year. So, if it does, who leads the Republican Party,” Todd wondered to Friedman.
The NYT columnist first ruled in an attempt at impartiality that “you'd like to have Republicans have skin in the game” so that they could “discipline the left-wing of the Democratic Party but also that we can't get anything big done without [them].”
However, that first train of thought was quickly replaced with this other outcome he’d be content with seeing:
I have another mind, that maybe this party needs to crash and burn and this version of the Republican Party needs to die, so out of the ashes, just as a new Democratic Party came out of the post-McGovern, post-Dukakis era, that we will get a Democratic leadership council movement, a sane Republican Party.
An awkward and brief pause ensued on set and after Todd blurted out “there you go,” National Review’s Washington editor Eliana Johnson surmised that will “happen regardless [of] whether Republicans lose the House” because “[y]ou're seeing that happen right now.”
“Donald Trump, I think, will preach to the converted after the election but the party is going to have to — Trump supporters, I think, haven't gotten the attention that they deserve from the party and the party's going to grapple with how to incorporate Trump supporters and parts of Trump-ism, on trade and immigration in particular,” Johnson added before claiming that many Trump supporters have been “former Democrats.”
The relevant portion of the transcript from NBC’s Meet the Press on October 23 can be found below.
NBC’s Meet the Press
October 23, 2016
11:16 a.m. EasternCHUCK TODD: Back now with our panel. Before we get to this election rigging stuff, I want to talk about what I just did in the Data Download, the House, it's a long shot. Not since ‘52 has the House changed hands in a presidential election year. So, if it does, who leads the Republican Party, Tom?
TOM FRIEDMAN: Well, I think, you know, I find myself with two minds when I think of that Chuck. One is, you'd like to have Republicans have skin in the game. Both for the reasons you talked about, to discipline the left-wing of the Democratic Party but also that we can't get anything big done without that, but I have another mind, that maybe this party needs to crash and burn and this version of the Republican Party needs to die, so out of the ashes, just as a new Democratic Party came out of the post-McGovern, post-Dukakis era, that we will get a Democratic leadership council movement, a sane Republican Party.
TODD: There you go.
ELIANA JOHNSON: That is going to happen regardless, whether Republicans lose the House. You're seeing that happen right now.
TODD: But seventy-five percent of the party are Trump voters, it's only 25 percent that think the way you think, right Eliana?
JOHNSON: Well, what I think's going to happen is the party is crashing and burning right now and Donald Trump, I think, will preach to the converted after the election but the party is going to have to — Trump supporters, I think, haven't gotten the attention that they deserve from the party and the party's going to grapple with how to incorporate Trump supporters and parts of Trump-ism, on trade and immigration in particular, and I think that needs to happen. I think both parties have neglected these voters. They’re former — many of them are former Democrats.
