Republicans in the era of Late Trumpism
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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QAnon
15 min read
The article extensively discusses Marjorie Taylor Greene's promotion of QAnon and its role in Trump's base, but many readers may not fully understand the conspiracy theory's origins, evolution, and specific claims about a 'cabal' that the article references
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Tea Party movement
13 min read
The article references the Tea Party era as the origin of Republican opposition to the ACA, and understanding this movement's ideology and influence provides crucial context for how the GOP arrived at its current internal tensions
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Jeffrey Epstein
17 min read
The Epstein files debacle is presented as a pivotal moment in Greene's break with Trump, and readers would benefit from understanding the full scope of Epstein's crimes and connections to understand why this became such a flashpoint
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Since 2016, the Republican Party has been under the thrall of Donald Trump’s personality cult, having traded the party’s “principles” for power.
But as Trump’s political standing weakens along with his increasingly decrepit mind and body, his hold on the GOP is slipping. And the underlying political incoherence of the Republican Party that has only grown during his reign is being fully exposed.
The emerging post-Trump GOP is an amalgam of the neo-fascist extremists Trump welcomed into the party and “establishment” Republicans, whose radically regressive positions are even less popular than they were when Mitt Romney was the party’s standard bearer. These factions are at odds with each other, as well as most of the nation, raising the question what kind of Republican Party will emerge as Trump’s dominion fades.
The travails of the emerging post-Trump GOP are exemplified by the recent exploits of two GOP “leaders” — longtime MAGA stalwart Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who just announced her exit from the House after becoming a “traitor” to Trump, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, a “traditional” Republican who has relentlessly bent and twisted his “principles” to satisfy Trump and is now having one of his few political “successes” by pressuring Trump to endorse politically toxic healthcare policies.
Breaking with Dear Leader
Greene spent years at the fringes of right-wing extremism, thankfully known only to those who delved into the darkest corners of the Internet. She vied for attention by making wild claims, including that Israel was responsible for 9/11 and that school shootings are staged by their victims. Trump, however, proved to be her ticket into “mainstream” conspiracism.
Greene was an avid promoter of the QAnon cult, which posits that Trump is a messiah sent to save the world from a Jewish/Democratic cabal that is, among other things, kidnapping and feasting on white Christian babies. Trump once kept QAnon at somewhat of a distance but has increasingly embraced it in recent years. And Greene, who was initially viewed as an embarrassment for the GOP, found herself becoming a major powerbroker as Trump’s political fortunes rose in 2022 and 2023.
As Trump regained his hold over the GOP from exile in Florida, Greene — who was initially stripped of her House Committee assignments by Democrats following a series of bigoted outbursts —
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