Fifty two years ago in 1964, Michigan Governor George Romney led a fight to try to deny the Republican Presidential nomination to Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, as too an extreme right wing candidate, outside the mainstream and tradition of the party.
Today, in 2016, his son, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP Presidential candidate, is leading a fight to try to deny the Republican Presidential nomination to billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump.
George Romney failed in his mission, and four years later, although for awhile the frontrunner for the 1968 nomination, failed to become the nominee.
Mitt Romney, in his second try for the nomination, won it in 2012, but failed to defeat Barack Obama.
And it seems clear that the Republican Party will end up nominating Trump, and that Mitt Romney, like his dad, will fail to prevent the implosion of the GOP again.
But this time, the Republican Party will, likely, never recover, and a new political party name will rise from the ashes, hopefully a more mainstream conservative party, rather than the extremist right wing party that the GOP now is!
I write about the 52 year implosion of the Republican Party on History News Network this week, with my article the headline article of the week, soon to be shared under “Articles” on the right side of this blog. I include the split in the GOP in 1912 between William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt.
The only difference between the two was that George held to his principles and was rising in the party in 1964 and his son was a waffler, changing his positions many times over the years and no longer had influence in the party.
Great point, Paul, thanks!