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Frayed GOP showing signs of splitting

The Republican Party has been showing signs of stress fatigue for several years. Like a piece of seemingly solid metal that has been subjected to pressure and flexing, miniscule cracks have been appearing. Now, with the apparent nomination of Donald Trump as its presidential candidate, the metal could be just about ready to snap.

The election of Barack Obama and the passage of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) led to the rise of the tea party faction in the Republican Party. Their agenda was to turn back the clock, lower taxes and limit the size and outreach of government, starting with the repeal of Obamacare. They helped elect a Republican majority in the House and Senate, and waited for the cuts to start.

When it didn’t happen, when party leaders like former Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell couldn’t deliver, they blamed them and the old party establishment.

That anger has stoked the campaign fervor for Trump, who, whatever else he might do, will shake the establishment. This past week, Trump’s success in Indiana drove his only standing opponents out of the race. But the party does not seem ready to line up behind Trump, at least not yet. House Speaker Paul Ryan said he wasn’t ready to support Trump, not yet anyway, expressing the feelings of a lot of Republicans and Conservatives, who don’t trust Trump’s conservative credentials.

The cracks in party solidarity are significant. Whether or not they lead to a schism in the party, they at least signal a battle ahead for the conscience and control of the party in years to come.

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