#35 / Afterward, III

President Trump meeting with the International Brotherhood of Carpenters at the White House.

Prior to the November 8, 2016, presidential election, many pundits predicted that the Republican Party was in disarray, and would quite possibly cease to exist in the aftermath of the upcoming election. 

As it turns out, it is the Democratic Party whose future is now most in doubt. The Republicans seem to be in rare good health.

According to one leading right-wing pundit, The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan, President Donald Trump is on his way to building a different Republican Party, a "worker's party," a "populist" party. The picture above shows President Trump, meeting with union leaders in the White House. It might be that Noonan is on to something.

If Noonan is right, the Republican Party is grappling with its own approach to "afterward," and is attempting to strengthen up its "broken places" by redesigning what it stands for. 

We will see how that works out, but this kind of effort will have to be made by the Democratic Party, too, if the Democratic Party wants to continue to exist as a political force. 

And, let's not forget, whatever the parties do, each one of us still has our own "afterward" to construct. 

Image Credit:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-tries-to-build-a-different-party-1485478386