title:  Lifetime Texas Republican Leaves The GOP In Epic Resignation Letter
text: Republicans continue to jump the sinking ship that chose Donald Trump to be their captain.Chris Ladd has been a Republican for 30 years now. He is so hardcore that he s even a friend of former Texas Governor Rick Perry and thought the world of Ronald Reagan.But now that the party has chosen Donald Trump as their 2016 nominee, Ladd wants nothing more to do with the GOP any longer, and he tore Republicans a new one in a letter he wrote announcing his resignation from the York Township Republican Committeemen s Organization and it is an epic read. At the national level, the delusions necessary to sustain our Cold War coalition were becoming dangerous long before Donald Trump arrived,  Ladd pointed out.  From tax policy to climate change, we have found ourselves less at odds with philosophical rivals than with the fundamentals of math, science and objective reality. And then Donald Trump came along and made the party even worse. From his fairy-tale wall to his schoolyard bullying and his flirtation with violent racists, Donald Trump offers America a singular narrative   a tale of cowards. Fearful people, convinced of our inadequacy, trembling before a world alight with imaginary threats, crave a demagogue. Neither party has ever elevated to this level a more toxic figure, one that calls forth the darkest elements of our national character.With three decades invested in the Republican Party, there is a powerful temptation to shrug and soldier on. Despite the bold rhetoric, we all know Trump will lose. Why throw away a great personal investment over one bad nominee? Trump is not merely a poor candidate, but an indictment of our character. Preserving a party is not a morally defensible goal if that party has lost its legitimacy. Ladd goes on to reminisce about Reagan s positive message and then sharply rebukes Republicans for abandoning their morality to pledge their allegiance to a fascist who has none. Fast-forward to our present leadership and the nature of our dilemma is clear. I watched Paul Ryan speak at Donald Trump s convention the way a young child watches his father march off to prison. Thousands of Republican figures that loathe Donald Trump, understand the danger he represents, and privately hope he loses, are publicly declaring their support for him. In Illinois our local and state GOP organizations, faced with a choice, have decided on complicity.Our leaders  compromise preserves their personal capital at our collective cost. Their refusal to dissent robs all Republicans of moral cover. Evasion and cowardice has prevailed over conscience. We are now, and shall indefinitely remain, the Party of Donald Trump.I will not contribute my name, my work, or my character to an utterly indefensible cause. No sensible adult demands moral purity from a political party, but conscience is meaningless without constraints. A party willing to lend its collective capital to Donald Trump has entered a compromise beyond any credible threshold of legitimacy. There is no redemption in being one of the  good Nazis. I hereby resign my position as a York Township Republican committeeman. My thirty-year tenure as a Republican is over. Ladd is absolutely right. The Republican Party has shattered any claim they had of being the morally superior party precisely because they are supporting a man who does not share their values. Furthermore, they are supporting a man who uses fear as a political tool and has a pessimistic view of America.This is not a sign of good news for the Republican Party or Donald Trump. Trump has seriously created a rift in the party between moderate Republicans and conservatives that could cost the GOP dearly on Election Day. The Republican Party needs more than just their base to win a general election and that means they need moderate voters like Ladd in order to have a chance at winning.If more people like Ladd continue to leave the Republican Party because of Donald Trump, the GOP is finished.Featured Image: Drew Angerer/Getty Images