It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to
You would cry too if it happened to you
I don’t know if the late Lesley Gore was a Republican or a Democrat.
But after what’s happened in the last year, the Republican National Committee ought to license her 1963 hit for its theme song.
I know a lot of conservatives who’d sing along with “It’s My Party”  - many with tears in their eyes.      
As I’ve said, like it or not, the Republican Party is no longer the Party of Lincoln or Reagan. It’s the Party of Donald J. Trump - for the next six months, at least.
If Republicans stand the slightest chance of winning back the White House and holding on to Congress this fall, and they still do, it’s all up to Trump.
He’s the one who spent the last year smashing the GOP platform into splinters with his pseudo Republican positions and promises.
He’s the bigmouth who threw schoolyard insults at the lineup of Republican primary losers whose help he now desperately needs.
Trump is the only one who can put the Party of Humpty Dumpty back together again, the only one who can save the country from four years of “Corrupt Hillary” and her tiresome old man.
Trump thinks he can win the general election without the help of the GOP establishment or his primary victims, but he can’t.
Defeating the GOP’s bloated all-star team in the primary without anyone’s help was one thing. Winning the general election will be a lot different and a lot harder.
This fall Trump is going to need the blood, sweat and tears of every politician and voter in America with an “R” after his or her name.
He’s the new leader of the Republican Party, whether he or Mitt Romney likes it or not.
He’s got to man up, put a choke leash on his ego and begin talking and acting like a future president.
His first important job, which I hope started Thursday with his meet-up with House Speak Paul Ryan, is to patch up his relations with all those fellow Republicans he had so much fun offending and discrediting.
Yes, Donald, that means reaching out to “Lying Ted’s” people, “Little Marco’s” people “Lazy Jeb’s” people and even “Loser Mitt’s” people.
It means at least making the effort - in public or in private -- to say whatever needs to be said to the Bush family and everyone else to get them on board the 2016 Trump Train - even if they’re just passengers.
Ditto for Lindsay Graham and everyone else in the Never Trump camp who said they’d rather take poison than support the billionaire populist.
It’s pretty simple.
Trump needs Cruz’s people, Rubio’s people, Mitt’s people and every other elected Republican’s people to show up at the polls in November and vote for him.
But for that to happen Trump has to figure out how to get humble real fast. He has to apologize and sweet talk everyone from Cruz and Rubio to George W. Bush’s favorite hunting dog. Trump’s the one who broke the GOP. He’s the only one who can put it back together again.
If he can’t do it soon - like yesterday - millions of Republicans are going stay home again this fall and Hillary will start shopping for Supreme Court Justices.
Then you’ll really hear some crying at what’s left of my father’s party.
Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan. Visit his websites at www.reagan.com and www.michaelereagan.com. Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter.