What can stop the Republican Party’s slide into fascist insanity? The Murdochs and Fox “News” turning away from propaganda? Democrats finding a politician as popular as Franklin Roosevelt? Lots of un-American “patriots” and un-Christian “Christians” dying off? America’s most famous criminal defendant losing the power of speech?

History professor Thomas Zimmer doesn’t discuss those possibilities. Instead, he explains why they’re sticking with the crook:

Republican [politicians] are not simply cowards. It’s worse.

The least plausible answer that nevertheless features prominently in the political discourse is that … they don’t dare stand up to the demagogue, fearing his wrath and that of his supporters. Fear might certainly play a role in individual cases, … but as an overall explanation, the narrative that Republicans are just scared and cowardly is still highly problematic….

For the news media, the cowardice tale provides justification for clinging to the notion that the [Republican Party] is a “normal” party – just struggling with an authoritarian insurrection, with a hostile takeover engineered by a few extremists who don’t represent the party’s true nature. Liberals may find comfort in the idea that everyone is committed to democracy, that deep down, we really all want the same thing for the country, even when some are just too scared of the mean demagogue and his cult followers to act on their beliefs.

Such an approach is completely oblivious to – or deliberately tries to obscure – the fact that no such consensus exists, that there is no fundamental agreement on which to build. It is entirely misleading because it negates the actual nature of the conflict and what is at stake. And by conveniently ignoring the longstanding anti-democratic tendencies on the Right, we can tell a story that begins (and possibly ends!) with Txxxx.

If not cowardice, then what?

… Republican elites understand they can’t win without the base, and the base remains committed to Txxxx-ism. But there is more to consider than just opportunism. Almost every time the Right is at a crossroads, they choose the path of radicalization, even when it’s not at all clear that’s a reasonable choice from a purely electoral standpoint.

… It is crucial to grapple with the underlying ideas and dynamics that have animated the Republican Party’s path for a long time. They have led to a situation in which moments of brief uncertainty almost always result in a further radicalization … What happened after the 2012 election defeat that shook conservatives to the core is an instructive example: The Republican National Committee famously released an “Autopsy” report that called for moderation and outreach to traditionally marginalized groups. But instead, the [party] doubled down – and went with Txxxx-ism.

About a decade later, Republicans – elites and base alike – are so deep into the Txxxx experience, that it’s worth turning the question around: How could they not close ranks behind [him] now, no matter what happens, after all they have accepted, supported, justified, and condoned so far? … If you leave now, was it all for nothing? … And the people who you have painted as the radically “Un-American” enemy, … are you ultimately going to let them win?

… And so, they stick with Txxxx – and have to find ever more extreme justifications for why he is, at worst, the lesser evil compared to the “leftist” enemy. That is partly why rightwingers – politicians, reactionary intellectuals and pundits, media activists – are constantly playing up the threat of “woke” radicalism and the “illiberal Left.” It has become dogma on the Right to define “Us” (conservative white Christians) as the sole proponents of “real America” – and “Them” (Democrats, liberals, “the Left”) as a dangerous “Other.” The Democratic Party, in this understanding, is not just a political opponent, but an “Un-American” enemy – a fundamentally illegitimate political faction captured by the radical forces of leftism, liberalism, wokeism, and multiculturalism.

The Right [sees] the struggle between Republicans and Democrats … as an existential conflict over whether or not the only version of the country they are willing to accept as “America” will survive and endure. Rightwingers have decided that they *are* the country…. In that sense, choosing the Republican Party *is* choosing the country.
Within the confines of such a worldview, … it constantly privileges the more radical over the more “moderate” forces within the [party]…. There’s always permission to escalate, hardly ever to pull back.

This underlying permission structure is absolutely key: It states that “Real Americans” are constantly being victimized, made to suffer under the yoke of crazy leftist politics, besieged by “un-American” forces of leftism…. In the minds of conservatives, they are never the aggressors, always the ones under assault. Building up this supposedly totalitarian, violent threat from the “Left” allows them to justify their actions within the long-established framework of conservative self-victimization. It allowed them to support Dxxxx Txxxx in the first place.

Do Republicans *really* believe this – or is this all just a cynical game? … Many on the Right don’t necessarily believe in the specifics of this conspiracy theory or that chimera of stolen elections. But they are still “true believers” … in the political project Txxxx-sm stands for: the white grievance politics that seeks to forever preserve America as a place of traditional hierarchies of race, gender, religion, and wealth.

And so, the permission structure of conservative politics remained fully intact even after January 6, and it quickly allowed for a realignment behind Txxxx….

But wait, maybe it’s different this time? What about the Republicans – like Bill Barr, for instance, who plainly defended the indictment as “very, very damning” and made it clear that the “idea of presenting Txxxx as a victim here, a victim of a witch hunt, is ridiculous” – who have acknowledged the severity of his wrongdoing: Aren’t they taking the exit ramp?

… In fact, Bill Barr has in many ways provided the starkest example of how a perverted version of “patriotism,” of supposedly choosing loyalty to America, can serve as the justification for falling in line behind Txxxx despite personal misgivings: Because “the Left” is seen as the greater evil, and nothing has been able to change that…. When confronted with how he could possibly support another Txxxx presidency during his book promotion tour in 2022, Barr replied: “Because I believe that the greatest threat to the country is the progressive agenda being pushed by the Democratic Party.”

This is the perfect encapsulation of the permission structure that governs conservative politics: Anything is justified in defense against what they constantly play up as a radically “Un-American,” extremist “Left” that has supposedly taken over the Democratic party….

We are now at the point where an attack on the Capitol was not nearly enough to break this logic of escalation or dislodge Dxxxx Txxxx as the leader of the Republican Party. That dynamic continued to shape the Right after January 6 – and [continues] in June 2023… In moments when it looked like there could have been an alternative path, an exit ramp, Republicans radicalized instead. Until we get a lot of hard evidence that something drastic has changed, this should shape our expectations going forward and our understanding of what American democracy is up against.