And, most frightening, in a time of extremely high partisanship, driven more and more by affective loyalties and fear of the other party, we don’t know how much democratic transgression Republicans (in Congress, the media, and in the mass public) would tolerate if it meant keeping Democrats from gaining power. In a two-party system, there is no other option for those who don’t want Democrats to gain power. There might soon be no party of conservativism and liberal democracy. If so, voters will have to pick one or the other.
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Some Republican elites have spoken out against Trump. And for the most part, they’ve found that speaking out just marginalizes them among Republicans — a worrying sign. And voters elected Trump, remember.
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But the polarization of attitudes and concentration of authoritarian leanings in the Republican Party are also cause for worry. The American public has never been the bulwark of tolerance and procedural democratic liberalism. It’s just that we’ve always had elites who cherished these values enough to champion and preserve them and, most importantly, keep them from the unpredictable maw of partisan conflict. We are now in new, uncharted territory.