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Charlotte Talks With Mike Collins

Political columnist, author Dana Milbank on how the GOP evolved to become 'Destructionists'

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Dana Milbank, author of “The Destructionists: The Twenty-Five Year Crack-Up of the Republican Party”
Djenno Bacvic

Today — unraveling the evolution of the modern Republican Party. How did the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan become the party of Donald Trump?

Washington Post political columnist Dana Milbank traces the roots of today’s Trumpism back 25 years to Newt Gingrich and his contract with America. He sees a through-line between the politics and rhetoric of the 90s to the violent insurrection attempt at the Capitol.

In his new book “The Destructionists,” Milbank says today's Republicans have become “an authoritarian faction fighting democracy." He joins guest host Erik Spanberg to talk about that and Republicans from the Carolinas who played a role in the party’s evolution, including Lindsey Graham and Mark Meadows.

Guest

Dana Milbank, political columnist for The Washington Post and author of "The Destructionists: The Twenty-Five-Year Crack-Up of the Republican Party"

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Erin Keever is Senior Producer of WFAE's Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins. She has been with the show since joining the station in 2006. She's a native Charlottean.