The 2016 election has brought about more political changes than almost any election in recent history. With Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton not only dividing the country, but each of the parties as well. However, after Clinton eventually won the nomination for the Democratic Party, many former Sanders supporters somewhat hesitantly put their support behind Clinton to help ensure that Donald Trump doesn't win presidency. This isn't the case for the Republican Party, in which the nomination of Donald Trump has brought about a massive divide between some of the most prominent members of the party, since some aren't willing to support Trump, such as Paul Ryan. As some members of the party shift to align their views more with Trump, those who are seen as moderate conservatives are hesitant to follow their lead. Thus, this ideological split in the Republican party could seriously affect the party's power in the government, which would cause its demise.
As this election increasingly polarizes the country for the future, the end of the Republican Party most likely won't be immediate, but the eventual impacts of this would massively change the way the American political system runs. Throughout this election, many Democrats were only supporting Clinton out of the fear of a Trump presidency. This act of fear-politics, which is when someone votes for a candidate they didn't fully support just to prevent another candidate from winning, would essentially end if the Republican party were to end. For example, Democrats who might align their political views with the more progressive Green Party, would be less inclined to vote along party lines every election, so third-party candidates like Jill Stein would have a better chance of winning in an election. Similarly, the end of the Republican party would allow for more choice for Republicans who feel restricted by the two-party system. A person who has a more conservative ideology and would most likely vote for a Libertarian candidate like Gary Johnson would only vote for Trump if it were to prevent Clinton from winning presidency.
Thus, the end of the Republican party would end the history of fear politics, which would end the two-party system, which has dominated politics for the last two centuries. With the end of the two-party system, American politics would be safer from many of the problems such as corruption, as well as freeing citizens from the binds of party-lines and allowing them to vote for whoever they want. Perhaps the party system might even cease, but regardless of the end result, this election will have massive implications on the way American politics works.
