I know being a Democrat is seen as the worst thing ever in a lot of circles, but it's a lot more complicated than Democrat = bad.

Trump was a Democrat for many years. So was Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, John C. Calhoun, Stephen Douglas, the underrated late great Grover Cleveland, William Jennings Bryan, Kennedy, and a lot of truly honorable men throughout American history.

"The Democrats represented a wide range of views but shared a fundamental commitment to the Jeffersonian concept of an agrarian society. They viewed the central government as the enemy of individual liberty. The 1824 "corrupt bargain" had strengthened their suspicion of Washington politics. ... Jacksonians feared the concentration of economic and political power. They believed that government intervention in the economy benefited special-interest groups and created corporate monopolies that favored the rich. They sought to restore the independence of the individual--the artisan and the ordinary farmer--by ending federal support of banks and corporations and restricting the use of paper currency, which they distrusted. Their definition of the proper role of government tended to be negative, and Jackson's political power was largely expressed in negative acts. He exercised the veto more than all previous presidents combined. Jackson and his supporters also opposed reform as a movement. Reformers eager to turn their programs into legislation called for a more active government. But Democrats tended to oppose programs like educational reform and the establishment of a public education system. They believed, for instance, that public schools restricted individual liberty by interfering with parental responsibility and undermined freedom of religion by replacing church schools. Nor did Jackson share reformers' humanitarian concerns. He had no sympathy for American Indians, initiating the removal of the Cherokees along the Trail of Tears."

Such was the Democratic party upon it's inception.

The process of decline was a pretty slow and gradual one, and the Republican response made both parties worse in the long run. I'd point to 1860, 1912, 1932, and 1964 as the key years that really sunk our political system into the gutter. At least if we're talking elections.