title:  WATCH: Utah Republican Leaves GOP After Disappointing GOP Convention Nominates Trump
text: If this keeps up there won t be enough Republicans left to justify the existence of the party.Utah GOP state Senator Mark Madsen attended the Republican National Convention last week and witnessed his state make every effort to keep Donald Trump from becoming the nominee. But they failed, and Trump gave a gloom and doom acceptance speech formally making him the leader of a party coming apart at the seams.In the wake of the disappointing convention, Madsen decided that the time was right to bolt from the Republican Party because  every decision and inclination I had before was reinforced. Although Madsen claims that Trump s nomination isn t what ultimately changed his mind, it s kind of hard to believe that it wasn t a factor. After all, the longtime Utah Republican has concerns about Trump s inexperience.In fact, Madsen bizarrely claimed that he is leaving the party because it is somehow too progressive, therefore, he has decided to join the Libertarian Party, which apparently frowns upon progress.He also said the Republican Party  makes me want to cry because I ve invested a lot in that party. Libertarian Party Chairman Nicholas Sarwark did not refrain from bashing the Republican Party and said that the reality clown show is what is causing many Republican lawmakers to abandon ship. After the disaster that we saw in Cleveland, in which a party that was once storied has nominated a reality show star for president, where the convention chairman s cutting off the microphone of a sitting U.S. senator, it s broken,  Sarwark said.  It s fundamentally broken and it s dying. Even Madsen s own wife is voting against the Republican Party and she also had no problem blaming the convention for her decision. That was my tribe,  Erin Madsen said.  That was my people.   I believed deeply in what I thought the Republican Party believed. But after having gone to the convention in Cleveland, I don t think that s my tribe anymore. They don t believe what I believe. And you re going to think this is crazy but it s like a death in the family for me. It breaks my heart. Here s video of Madsen announcing his switch via YouTube.Last week, a lifelong Texas Republican formally resigned from the Republican Party by writing an epic resignation letter that went viral. I will not contribute my name, my work, or my character to an utterly indefensible cause,  Chris Ladd wrote after being a Republican for the last 30 years.  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. Donald Trump is the poison pill that Republicans forced themselves to swallow so they really shouldn t be surprised that their party is dying.Featured image via John Sommers II/Getty Images