"As recently as the autumn of 2022, anti-Donald Trump (or at least non-Trump) Republicanism was alive and well in a good part of the country. Plenty of Republican politicians had deplored his conduct after losing the 2020 election and lived to tell the tale. Many blamed the former president for damaging the party's prospects in the 2022 midterm elections with ill-advised interventions in GOP primaries."
"By the time he completed his audacious comeback, Trump had crushed his national GOP opponents and consolidated the party behind him. His MAGA base was not only larger than ever; it held him in what could be described only as messianic awe, particularly after he survived two assassination attempts and his first national-popular-vote win. Former Republican skeptics and critics crowded into his second administration, and a Congress led by Trump loyalists eagerly ceded the many powers he sought to take away from them."
"But the depth of Trump's party takeover didn't become completely clear until he suddenly decided the GOP needed a better midterms landscape, if he was to maintain his governing trifecta, and set out on a program of unprecedented mid-decade gerrymanders to boost the low odds that Republicans could hang on to their slim margin of control in the U.S. House."
As recently as autumn 2022 a substantial non-Trump Republican movement persisted, with many GOP politicians condemning his conduct after the 2020 loss and blaming interventions for 2022 midterm setbacks. Twelve rivals challenged him for the 2024 nomination, and Ron DeSantis briefly led. Trump then executed a political comeback, crushing national GOP opponents and consolidating the party, with a larger, fervent MAGA base and many former skeptics joining his administration. A loyalist Congress ceded powers he sought. Facing declining approval broadly but strong GOP support, Trump pursued unprecedented mid-decade gerrymanders beginning in Texas to improve midterm prospects, prompting retaliatory plans by California Democrats.
Read at Intelligencer
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