Episode 993 of The Professional Left finally arrives at the pivotal year of 2008 — the moment the Republican party began eating itself alive — and traces exactly how a party that had just driven the country into a ditch decided that the best response was to sabotage the guy trying to pull it out. Driftglass and Blue Gal walk through the deliberate, coordinated Republican strategy to destroy Barack Obama before he even got started, complete with the death panels lie, the "government takeover" lie, and the racist conspiracy theory that a reality TV con man would ride all the way to the White House. Mitt Romney makes a long, painful, and very instructive appearance as the man who tried to straddle a party that was already too broken to straddle, rewriting his own book along the way to prove it.If you've ever wondered exactly how America got from the wreckage of the Bush years to the rise of Trump, this episode lays out the trail.Stay in Touch! Email: [email protected] Website: proleftpod.com Support via Patreon: patreon.com/proleftpod or Donate in the Venmo App @proleftpodMail: The Professional Left, PO Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791Support the show