Roots of today’s GOP come from Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanan

“In the 1990s, conservatives really began to build their base of power in two institutions: in media and in Congress,” says political historian Nicole Hemmer.

“In the 1990s, conservatives really began to build their base of power in two institutions: in media and in Congress,” says political historian Nicole Hemmer. Photo by Shutterstock.

Most Republicans in the House of Representatives refused to certify the 2020 election, and most Republican voters believe Trump won – not President Biden. And Trump, who holds few traditional Republican ideals, is the party’s leader.

But the seeds of today’s GOP were planted more than 30 years before Trump took over the White House. The modern Republican Party was created in the image of Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanan, and Rush Limbaugh. That’s according to Nicole Hemmer, a political historian at Vanderbilt University whose new book is “Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries who Remade American Politics in the 1990s.”

Credits

Guest:

  • Nicole Hemmer - author of “Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s” - @pastpunditry

Host:

Madeleine Brand

Producers:

Sarah Sweeney, Angie Perrin, Michell Eloy, Amy Ta, Brian Hardzinski, Bennett Purser, Marcelle Hutchins