Naw, they used to be one party, the Democratic-Republican party. They grew out of the Anti-Federalist Party and outlasted the Federalists. In the 1824 election, they were the only party in the US. They ended up fracturing in two, creating the Democratic party and the Whig/Republican party.

The full severing of the political parties would occur just prior to the Civil War where Whigs splintered over slavery while Democrats supported it. Anti-slavery Whigs and Republicans consolidated together as the Whig factions further separated from each other.

So the "Grand Old Party" is a splinter faction of a splinter faction that can trace its roots back to the original parties of post-Revolution America. Republicans and Democrats are technically the same age.

[–] sawne128@hexbear.net 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Idk, screenshot is from 270towin.com

[–] anaesidemus@hexbear.net 17 points 3 days ago (2 children)

It is, I just looked it up, strange. I also learned that the color red wasn't strongly associated with them until 2000.

[–] KobaCumTribute@hexbear.net 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I also learned that the color red wasn't strongly associated with them until 2000.

This is the weirdest and most infuriating of all the empty little symbol stuff. Historically election maps just kind of used random colors in the US because none of the parties had traditional color associations, but because one newscaster talked about "the red states" when pointing at a map where Bush was represented with red and the states in question were literally just colored red on the map, now the GOP has the left's color and the Democrats have the traditional color of elite reactionaries and as stupid and meaningless as this is it's just so annoying especially because the Democrats really do just want to be snooty aristocratic elites and they do insufferable left punching based on associating their even-more-reactionary liberal counterparts in the GOP with the left to smear them.

It'd be like if American political parties somehow adopted the hammer and sickle through some galaxy brain "hammer=judge's gavel=law and order" and "sickle=agricorp subsidies" logic: meaningless and empty, but offensive appropriation all the same.

[–] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago

Yet another way to sever the connection between the US and the global left to have the color red be associated with conservatism. Just like how the US celebrates fake Labor Day instead of May 1.

[–] SpiderFarmer@hexbear.net 6 points 3 days ago

And here I thought it was weird seeing the blue Trump signs and green Dem signs this past election. Guess it's never made sense.