Leave aside the question of whether his characterization of the contemporary GOP is accurate; consider instead the profound ignorance of American history betrayed by the comment that this would be “the first time” that “one of the major parties is, at its core, a religious organization.” The Know-Nothings campaigned entirely on Protestant chauvanism. The Free Soilers — and then the Republicans — were organized around an abolitionist movement overwhelmingly driven by religious conviction. The Bryanists who controlled the Democratic Party from 1896-1908 explicitly grounded their populist ideology in faith. Those are just the most obvious examples. Can Andrew really know none of this?
