If you had asked me thirty years ago to define the values of the Republican Party (aka Grand Old Party or GOP), I have listed the following: lower taxes, stronger military, personal character (not like that Clinton guy who had an affair with Monica Lewinsky!), and the rule of law (especially when it comes to judges interpreting statutes rather than engaging in “legislating from the bench.”)

If you ask me today how I would define the values of the Republican Party I would probably ask for some time. After all, based on what I hear from the leadership of the Republican Party, my best guess is that today’s values would include the following:

• “Wokeism” is far more dangerous to our national survival than is, say, a President attempting a coup d’etat by circumventing the valid results of our Constitutional electoral system. In fact, we should be happy to welcome any dictator who is willing to stamp out wokeism. (If you’re wondering, the definition of wokeism appears to be the promulgation of any theory that suggests that segregation and other Jim Crow laws were a legacy of slavery and that the institution of slavery was wrong. Wokeism also involves the notion that the erection of statues honoring leaders of military forces aimed at destroying the United States was probably a bad idea.)
• The key to national strength is for our President to be the biggest bully in the world. That way, everyone will be afraid to start a war with us. It doesn’t matter if our bully eventually gets around to bullying Americans in the same way that Putin bullies his own Russians and Xi bullies his fellow Chinese. We’re willing to go along with our bully so long as he stamps out wokeism.
• We should have cozied up to Russia. If we had done that prior to Russia’s war with Ukraine, then Putin could have made quick work of that invasion. Then we wouldn’t have had to listen to all that whining from Zelensky about freedom, democracy, and NATO.  
• Fundamentalist Christianity is our national religion. Those of us who think a state religion is prohibited by the 1^st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution are obviously wrong.
• “Well regulated” is not a phrase found in the 2^nd Amendment. Those of us who think we see that phrase when we read the Constitution are obviously wrong.
• Since liberal Democrats wouldn’t allow President Trump to snatch children away from their parents, then the next best way to stop illegal immigration is to set up machine gun turrets at the border and simply mow down all the men, women, and children who are trying to enter. That’ll show ‘em. After just a few months of that, we won’t see any more immigrants wanting to come to the United States (legally or illegally).
• Same goes for homelessness. If we really want to deal with the growing homeless population then we need to go back to doing what President Herbert Hoover did when faced with the “Hoovervilles” that were springing up in Washington, D.C. He simply ordered General MacArthur to go in and smash down all the tents and everyone inside them. That tactic probably led to President Hoover’s downfall, but hey, it’s worth another try.
• We should stimulate the economy by lowering taxes on corporations and high-income individuals. After all, they are our nation’s employers. (Forget the fact that under the Biden Administration, unemployment has reached a fifty-year low without having to cut taxes on corporations or high-income individuals.)
• Legislating from the bench is okay when it comes to ending abortion, standing up to “wokeism,” and protecting Americans’ God-given right to own, display, and use military arsenals.
• Corrupt behavior by judges is okay so long as they are “one of us;” i.e., appointed by a conservative Republican President.

Sorry if the foregoing sounds a bit rough. I’m still trying to understand it all myself.