I like elephants. They are beautiful animals who have trundled around the forests and savanahs, for thousands of years. What better animals to have to represent a political party? Elephants are wise, reputedly have long memories, great endurance, mourn their dead, care for their young, have a social organizations and only eat vegetation. Are Republicans quite certain this animal represents them adequately? I am assuming of course elephants have to survive in the real world where death from poachers, drought and disease and young hunters like Trump Jr, are a challenge and where their tusks, carved to perfection, afford the Chinese great cultural satisfaction. The present state of the Republican Party hardly seems to fit this metaphorical bill. Republicans seem intent on bringing down US democracy and the legal system undermining voting, packing the courts with their supporters, destroying the economy by refusing to extend the debt limit and trying to control the reproductive rights of women. May I humbly suggest a more appropriate political symbol would be the Dodo, a colorful flightless bird, a few of which still remain, stuffed in Natural History Museum in London.