Republican Party

The Republican Party of the United States, also known as the GOP was a major political party inside of the United States, founded shortly before the American Civil War of the 1860s. Starting in the 20s they, alongside the Democrats say a drastic decline in popularity, and when the United States government collapsed, the Republican Party dissolved, with its reminents uniting with any remaining Democrat politicians and Democrat-affiliated organizations to form the Free States Party.

# **History (post 1900s)**

## **Prelude to decline**

In the years before the end of the Great War and the start of the "American Decline", Republicans sat comfortably within the political scene of the country. While Democrats were their biggest rivals and had been for decades, they were the strongest and most popular political parties within the United States, even as they suffered under a schism in 1912 during the national election which provoked an ideological shift to the right.

## **Decline in popularity**

However, the end of the Great War catapulted America's economy for worse, as economic gains made from supplying the Entente stopped overnight, resulting in a drastic economic recession, worsened by the German Refugee Crisis and 1919 Race Riots which caused millions of dollars in damage. While all of this occurred under Woodrow Wilson's administration, and so he and the Democratic Party faced all the blame due to it, Republicans soon weren't able to stop themselves from slowly fading into obscurity. The Democratic Party fell flat on its face, never to recover from the political humilations of 1917-1920, yet the Republicans couldn't win popular support.

This was seen with the overwhelming majority vote for Republican Warren G. Harding as the Republicans hoped to further push the Democrats out of the American political scene, but the first disaster for the Republicans struck after the botched Battle of Blair Mountain lead to a humilating victory for the Republicans, and the aftermath of the battle was further echoed in the Great Railroad Strike of 1922, leading to a drastic public disapproval of Harding, and by extention Republican social and economic policy.

In 1924, Democratic candidate William McAdoo won the presidency, while this is the first time in modern history that other parties have gained traction, like the Socialist Party of America, and shortly after the election the National Dignity Party is created, the first major far-right political party operating in the country, beginning the era of, not just a decline in the Republicans and Democrats but also a political shift and growing polarization. In yet another defeat for the Democrats, McAdoo proved to be another shot in the foot for Democrats, and for McAdoo specifically the anger generated towards him came from his inability to alleviate the Great Depression, starting in 1927, while during his presidency the SPA and NDP saw a rise in popularity, especially in younger generations eager to bring change to the country. For the first time, Republicans became sidelined in New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Michigan by the SPA while the NDP forced the Republicans out of Montana, Washington, Idaho and Utah.

**WIP**

## **Second American Civil War**

After FDR's assassination, all the work done to keep the political fractured United States together finally unraveled. Chaos broke loose across the country with John Garner's controversial policies on the NLU and socialism in the country, and in order to save face, the now weakened Republican Party withdrew from the tense political scene, unwilling to side with Garner after seeing his blatant hypocrisy. In any case, the Republicans still urged their supporters to "stay calm and prepared" during these tumultous times, and while the Democrats broke away from the Republicans, they once again united after the Peoples' Union of America was proclaimed as a last ditch effort to protect American democracy from extinction.