There are alot of stories out today about how Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz are radioactive after fomenting the attempted coup this week. People from George Will to our esteemed Kerry Eleveld think this dooms them in their campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Unfortunately, the people who think that are the same people who thought Trump would never win the Republican nomination in 2016 or manage to win the electoral college that year. The Republican Party is the Party of Trump. The mob that stormed the Capitol is the dominant faction of the GOP, not the elite fat cats who want their tax cuts. 45% of Republicans supported what the mob did, and I’d bet that among the subset of primary voters the percentage is higher. 70% of Republicans don’t think November’s election was fair. Being called on to resign by a Democratic senator and the two biggest newspapers in his state will only be a badge of honor for Josh Hawley in the 2024 primaries.
We want to think that if there is one thing that unites us as Americans, it’s a commitment to democracy as a founding principle of our country. We need to come to grips with the fact that if Republican Party has to choose between democracy and power, they will choose power every time. We underestimate the demagogues willing to exploit that at our own risk.