Decades ago my sister Maureen often used to call the Republican Party "The Stupid Party."
Today, the Party of Lincoln - the Party of Reagan - is again proving her right.
Instead of concentrating on retaking the House next year and regaining control of the Senate, the GOP is looking backwards and engaging in intra-party squabbles.
Instead of uniting to attack - and stop - President Biden's plans to turn the U.S. into the United Socialist States of America, the GOP is still fighting over the results of the 2020 election.
The party's leaders aren't able to take advantage of Biden's early blunders because of one man - Donald Trump.
By refusing to shut up about how he was cheated in 2020, and teasing everyone about whether he'll run in 2024, Trump is not just splintering and distracting the Republican Party.
He's also giving the lazy national media an excuse to focus on him every day, instead of covering the Biden-created crisis at the southern border and other Biden fiascos-in-the-making.
I agree with Rep. Liz Cheney when she says Trump has to get over Nov. 3.
He lost. It's over. It's history. He has to face it and stop branding it "The Big Lie."
Given his ego and need to make headlines every day, I don't think he'll be able to shut up about the past and look to the future.
But Republicans in federal and state office have to stop buying in to "The Big Lie" to make Trump happy with them.
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The best thing they can do is ignore Trump, forget about primaries, get unified and figure out how to win the general elections next year.
Republicans also have to figure out how to stay at the top of the news, talking about what our view of America is, what we are doing and how we're going to do it - as a party.
We should leave Cheney in her position as House GOP conference chair, the No. 3 spot in the party. (It's not like she's a maverick. She voted with Trump 92 percent of the time.)
In any case, I don't want a 100 percent party of conservative robots.
We are always going to have people on the fringes of the party who are going to agree or disagree on certain issues.
We can't say if you don't agree 100 percent with the Republican majority or the leadership we're going to kick you out of the party.
Cheney simply got tired of Trump talking about Nov. 3.
She spoke out because she doesn't want "The Big Lie" to be used against the party in the 2022 elections.
I'm tired of "The Big Lie" too. So are lots of other people.
Cheney wants the party to move on and work on winning back the House and Senate. So do I.
The GOP will never win back Congress or block the socialist visions of Biden if the focus continues to be about Donald Trump and his vision for America.
It's got to be about the Republican Party's vision, and it's up to GOP leaders in Washington to lead - so please lead.
Trump can be a supporter of the party or even its leader, but he has to behave like a leader.
By teasing about running in 2024 or hinting that he'd choose Florida Gov. DeSantis as his VP, he's hurting other Republicans.
He prevents other potential presidential candidates like DeSantis from fundraising and doing what they need to do to prepare for 2024.
Trump can make the party stronger if he does what my dad did and puts the party and the country above himself and works with others to get things done.
What Biden and the progressive Democrats are trying to pull off is a huge gift to Republicans. Biden is going to be Jimmy Carter 2.0.
But to take advantage of the mistakes of the power-hungry Democrats, the Party of Reagan has to stop being stupid and start being smart.
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