Republicans Will Defend Trump Through Anything – The Atlantic
That Donald Trump has acted recklessly and lawlessly, without empathy, as if he lives in a world devoid of moral rules, should surprise no one. Some of us warned back in the summer of 2016 that Trump was erratic, unstable, and temperamentally unfit for office. He had what I referred to then as a personality disorder. I believed then and I believe now that it is the most essential thing to understand about him. Trump in power couldnt end well.
Trump never found a way to escape the antisocial demons that haunt him. But heres what turned a personal tragedy into a national calamity: He imprinted his moral pathologies, his will-to-power ethic, on the Republican Party. It is the most important political development of this century.
The GOP once advertised itself as standing for family values and law and order, for moral ideals and integrity in political leaders. Such claims are now risible. The Republican Party rallied around Trump and has stuck with him every step of the way.
Republican officials showed fealty to Trump despite his ceaseless lying and dehumanizing rhetoric, his misogyny and appeals to racism, his bullying and conspiracy theories. No matter the offense, Republicans always found a way to look the other way, to rationalize their support for him, to shift their focus to their progressive enemies. As Trump got worse, so did they.
Republicans defended Trump after the release of the Access Hollywood tape and alleged hush-money payments to a porn star. They defended him when he obstructed justice to thwart the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and sided with Russia over U.S. intelligence during a press conference in Helsinki, Finland. They defended him after learning of his effort to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election. They defended him despite his effort to overturn the election by pressuring state officials to find votes and send fake electors, by wallpapering the country with lies, and by instigating a violent assault on the Capitol. The ex-president continues to peddle the Big Lie to this day, and any Republican who challenges it is targeted.
Read: Trumps rejection of observable reality
Something malicious has occurred since Trump won the nomination in 2016. Six years ago, Republicans jettisoned their previous moral commitments in order to align themselves with the MAGA movement. Today, they have inverted them. Lawmakers, candidates, and those in the right-wing media ecosystem celebrate and imitate Trumps nihilism, cynicism, and cruelty. What was once considered a bug is now a feature.
This is the result of individuals and institutions accommodation of one moral transgression after another after another. With each moral compromise, the next onea worse onebecomes easier to accept. Conduct that would have horrified Republicans in the past now causes them, at best, to shrug their shoulders; at worst, they delight in it.
How does that change play out in our politics? Five years ago, leading Republicans were publicly critical of Trumps statements following the white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Now consider that just a few weeks after far more ominous actions by Trumpinspiring and provoking an insurrectionHouse Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy flew to Mar-a-Lago to grovel before Trump. Initially, Republicans accepted the need for a bipartisan commission to find out what had happened on January 6; since then, they have undermined every effort to uncover that days events and how central a role Trump played in them.
The 2016 Republican platform said, The next president must restore the publics trust in law enforcement and civil order by first adhering to the rule of law itself. Today, Republicans, in response to a lawful search of the home of a lawless ex-president, compare the FBI to the Gestapo and the Stasi. Trump himself, during a rally, referred to the FBI and the Department of Justice as vicious monsters. And no political party in living memory has done as much as the GOP to undermine civil order and the publics trust in law enforcement, or to attack the rule of law.
In hindsight, January 6, 2021, was a milestone along not just one path of radicalization, but two. Of course, it represented an unprecedented assault on democracy by the violent mob on Capitol Hill and the president who incited it. But it also represented what turned out to be the last moment when Republicans considered repudiating Trump. For a few days, party leaders seemed, at last, horrified enough to break with him. But when McCarthy slunk to Mar-a-Lago, hat and apology in hand, and when thenSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans backed away from Trumps impeachment and removal, the moment was over, and a door slammed shut. There would be no more wavering. Today, the dominant faction in the GOP is not conservative in the American tradition; it is authoritarian and revolutionary, like far-right parties in Europe.
Karen Stenner, a political psychologist and the author of the groundbreaking The Authoritarian Dynamic, argues that about a third of people across 29 liberal democracies seem to have a psychological predisposition toward authoritarianism. The tendency exists on both ends of the political spectrum, though its more prevalent on the right.
Stenner defines authoritarianism, which she believes is about 50 percent heritable, as a deep-seated psychological predisposition to demand obedience and conformitywhat she calls oneness and samenessover freedom and diversity. Authoritarians have an aversion to complexity and diversity. They tend to be intolerant on matters of race, politics, and morals; to glorify the in-group and denigrate the out-group; and to reward or punish others according to their conformity to this normative order.
The danger, Stenner says, arises when that tendency, which is often latent, is activated by normative threats, a deep fear of change, and a loss of trust in our institutions. She also made this point to my colleague Helen Lewis: In normal, reassuring, and comforting conditions, people with authoritarian tendencies could be your best neighbor. But those predispositions are activated under conditions of threat and produce greater intolerance to differences.
Donald Trump has made his supporters feel permanently panicked, according to Stenner. He never got past the constant-rage-and-fear stage. And it doesnt help that modern lifes complexity is overwhelming for many people.
For those with authoritarian tendencies, Stenner says, theres a need to reassure them and calm them down. Her goal is to help authoritarians live in peace with liberal democracy. We need to reintegrate, rather than triumph over and banish, the authoritarians. Demeaning and dismissing a significant part of the country wont turn out well. And so the focus of her work is to find practical ways to bring activated authoritarians back from the brink, including by means of normatively reassuring messages. The key, she believes, is to reduce the feelings of being threatened and to find the right languagelanguage that is less alienating to those with authoritarian tendenciesto talk about things such as diversity and immigration. She and the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt point out that moral elevation, the response we have when we witness virtuous acts, can also be helpful.
This approach is commendable; my guess is that right now it might have sway with the minority of Republicans who are uneasy about Trump. Perhaps, combined with an indictment of Trump, it might be enough to weaken the ex-president to the point where the Republican Party breaks with him. But will its members break with the authoritarian tendencies that now define the GOP?
That seems unlikely. The majority of the party has gotten more radicalized, more aggressive, and more conspiracy-minded, not less, since Trump left office. The MAGA movement has provided many of its adherents with an identity, a source of personal meaning, and a cause for which to fight. They have created a narrative in which they are heroic figures fighting malevolent forces. They find psychological satisfaction in relentless conflict; their lives seem more vivid and more purposeful within MAGAs ever-combative frame. Politics has become, for them, an ersatz religion. In this activated state, they are not reachable by reason or open to amelioration. In fact, many in MAGA world are looking for reasons to take offense, to feel victimized, to lash out.
Peter Wehner: Dont succumb to MAGA fatalism
There is an analogy to nature: When a thunderstorm cloud has sufficient electrostatic charge, it has to discharge toward the ground. If the lightning bolt doesnt find one target, it will find another. So will Trump supporters.
We have a big faction of one of our two major political parties who wants to unravel our democracy because it no longer serves them, Barbara Walter, a professor at UC San Diego and the author of How Civil Wars Start and How to Stop Them, recently told CNN. The reality is if you dont say anything, if you stick your head in the ground, this makes it easier for those who do want to create some sort of authoritarian or strongman, minority-rule governmentsort of what you have in Hungaryit simply allows them to do that more easily. They can do it quietly behind the scenes when no ones looking.
Im of two minds about all this. I admire groups such as Braver Angels, which is attempting to bridge partisan divides, decrease affective polarization, and help Americans understand one another beyond stereotypes. If we can help those with authoritarian tendencies reintegrate themselves into liberal democracy, we should certainly do so. Its important to hear perspectives that differ from our own. And its imperative that we relearn how to talk with one another as fellow citizens instead of as combatants.
I also believe we should continue to stay in relationships whenever possible, including with family members and friends whose authoritarian attitudes have been activated, even as we look for the right moment and the right way to name our differences and express our disappointment with those who have aligned themselves with malignant political figures and movements. We should speak with candor but not with malice, striving for grace as well as for truth. Its an impossible balance to always achieve, at least for me; my frustrations can sometimes get the better of me, and perhaps they get the better of you too. But the balance is still worth fighting for.
But even though we shouldnt give up on individuals, I cant escape concluding that the time for mollifying grievances is over. In our political endeavors, the task is now to contain and defeat the MAGA movement, shifting away from a model of psychological amelioration and toward a model of political confrontation. This is the model that Liz Cheney embraces, and so do I.
Mark Leibovich: Liz Cheney, the Republican from the state of reality
It requires defeating Trump Republicans at the polls, but it goes well beyond that. It also means rallying the forces that must rise up to oppose authoritarianism by speaking honestly about the nature of the threat. It means telling the truth about not just Trump but many of his supporters, who remain complicit in a corrupt and corrupting enterpriseone that is inflicting grave injury on our nation and its ideals.
MAGA supporters have had countless opportunities to take the exit ramp, and they have always found reasons not to. At some point, when an enterprise is thoroughly corrupt, staying a part of it, helping it along, refusing to ever speak up, is not just a mistake in judgment; it is a failure of intellectual and moral integrity. This doesnt mean that every area of a MAGA supporters life is devoid of rectitude, of course. But it does mean that one important area is. And that needs to be said.
So, no, I am not suggesting giving up on individual MAGA supporters, writing them off, throwing them out of polite societyeven if I were in a position to do any of those things, which Im not. I am suggesting that much of MAGA world is authoritarian, that Liz Cheney is right to turn all her political energies to opposing it, and that containing and defeating MAGAnot hoping it will change, not placating its grievancesis now the No. 1 priority for friends of democracy. Maybe well succeed, maybe well fail, but the mission is unavoidable. And honorable.
More:
Republicans Will Defend Trump Through Anything - The Atlantic
- Susan Collins finally got her dream job. Fellow Republicans are making it a nightmare. - Politico - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Republicans in Congress Shift to Backing Ukraine, Matching Trumps Reversal - The New York Times - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- House Speaker Johnson joins growing number of Republicans pressing Trump administration for more transparency on Epstein case - CNN - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Trump tells Texas Republicans to redraw the state congressional map to help keep House majority - AP News - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Behind Republicans Risky Bid to Draw Themselves Five More Seats in Texas - Cook Political Report - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- A closer look at where Senate Republicans stand on Trumps rescission request - PBS - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Senate Republicans narrowly advance Trump's $9 billion spending cut package - NBC News - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- House Republicans block Democratic maneuver to force release of Epstein files - Axios - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- For Some Republicans, Trumps Shift on Epstein Is Just the Latest Breach - The New York Times - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Republicans race to slash $9bn for public broadcasting and foreign aid - The Guardian - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans break with Trump on Epstein - The Washington Post - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Republicans move to block Democratic effort to force release of Epstein files - The Guardian - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Republicans renew a bid to remove noncitizens from the census tally behind voting maps - NPR - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- These Republicans Want More Details Over Handling of Epstein Files - Newsweek - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Opinion | Mamdani for Mayor (if You Want to Help the Republicans) - The New York Times - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Republicans Proceed with Bill to Increase Energy Costs and Make Americans More Vulnerable to Nuclear Threats - House.gov - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Texas Redistricting Maneuver May Harm Republicans More Than It Helps - The American Prospect - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Texas Republicans Oldest Trick In The Book - split-ticket.org - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Republicans in Congress break with Trump on his handling of the Epstein files - NBC News - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Republicans declared it crypto week in the House. Its not going as planned - AP News - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Republicans declared it crypto week in the House. Its not going as planned - WHEC.com - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Ohio House Republicans will try to override Gov. DeWine property tax vetoes - Ohio Capital Journal - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- 211 House Republicans Vote to Block Release of Epstein Files - The New Republic - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- NC Republicans in Congress respond to Gov. Stein's letter on Trump budget - WRAL.com - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Senate Republicans divided over looming vote to rescind $9 billion in spending - The Spokesman-Review - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Republicans confirm Whitney Hermandorfer, the first judge of Trumps second term - MSNBC News - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Trump is crushing it, but the Republicans can still blow it in 2026 and 2028 - The Hill - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Jan. 6 Rioters Are the New Hot Event in Town for Republicans - The Wall Street Journal - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Republicans and Democrats visited Alligator Alcatraz for the first time. Heres what they saw. - Politico - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Pollster: Republicans outnumber Democrats in number of active registered voters in Louisiana for first time - louisianaradionetwork.com - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Cortez Masto Blasts Republicans for Refusing to Fix the Provision in Their Tax Bill that Limits the Wagering Loss Deduction - Senator Catherine Cortez... - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Karoline Leavitt Just Made A Trump Claim So Ridiculous That Even Republicans Are Calling It Out - Yahoo - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Republicans Blame Canada for Wildfire Smoke Suffocating the U.S. - The New York Times - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Senate Republicans block attempt to roll back massive tax hike on professional gamblers - AP News - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Republicans run a risky strategy for holding the House that rests on redrawn maps - Politico - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- As Texas Republicans prepare for mid-decade redistricting, cautionary tales loom from the past - The Texas Tribune - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Trump warns Republicans against rejecting cuts to PBS and NPR - The Hill - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Republicans probably shouldve read their far-right megabill before passing it - MSNBC News - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Republicans Are Changing Their Tune on Immigration: Poll - Newsweek - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Kelly: Republicans cut health care and food for AZ families so the wealthy could pay lower taxes - Arizona Mirror - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Think Democrats and Republicans can't work together? On sealing eviction records, they do. - Stateline - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- How Republicans Rejected A Texas Flood Warning System - The Lever - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Texas Republicans have a brazen new plan to block Democrats from retaking the House in 2026 - Mother Jones - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Ron Faucheux: Will the Big Beautiful Bill sink Republicans? - NOLA.com - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- The big, beautiful bill could get ugly for Republicans - The Hill - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Republicans push for business sanction on sanctuary cities - NJ Spotlight News - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Nicolle Wallace: Trump 'has turned Republicans in the Senate into ghosts' - MSN - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Jury finds former head of Island County Republicans guilty in Elections Office mask mandate case - Whidbey News-Times - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Charlie Kirk sounds the alarm on the biggest threat to Republicans holding the White House in 2028 - Fox News - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Jon Stewart Rips Republicans for Trying to Jedi Mind Trick Americans Into Thinking There Never Was an Epstein List | Video - Yahoo - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Republicans toe Trump line even in aftermath of deadly Texas floods - The Guardian - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Opinion | How Republicans can defy history and survive the midterms - The Washington Post - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- What the Big, Beautiful Bill Reveals About Republicans - Slate Magazine - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Are Republicans bowing to Trump even more than they used to? - KCRW - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- How Republicans sidelined the health care industry and pushed through historic Medicaid cuts - STAT - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Republicans urge US universities to cut ties with 'nefarious' Chinese-backed scholarship program - ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Full List of Republicans Who Voted To Slash Weather Forecasting Funding - Newsweek - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Republicans are already getting hammered over the OBBB - Punchbowl News - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Will Republicans in Virginia pay a price for the One Big Beautiful Bill? Here's what the math shows. - Cardinal News - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- These Republicans fought for green energy tax credits. Trumps latest order could threaten them - Deseret News - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- 'Nefarious mechanism': Republicans issue stern warning to US universities against Chinese scholarship pro - Times of India - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Republicans Are Already Licking Their Lips at the Chance of Another Reconciliation Bill - NOTUS - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Republicans say 'big, beautiful bill' will address states with high SNAP payment error, including Colorado - Denver7 - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Opinion | Everyone Hates This Bill. Dan Osborn Could Make Republicans Pay for It. - The New York Times - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- 'Big, Beautiful Bill': Which House Republicans voted against the bill? - FOX 5 DC - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- 2 Ohio Republicans taking on their own party to protect access to marijuana - News 5 Cleveland WEWS - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Republicans just cut Medicaid. Will it cost them control of Congress? - Politico - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- News Analysis: The healthcare cuts approved by Trump, Republicans go well beyond Medicaid - Los Angeles Times - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- People Are Saying We Might Not Even Make It To The Midterm Election After Elizabeth Warren Tried To Give Hope About Republicans Having To "Face... - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Fake Weather, Fake Flooding: Republicans Are Spreading A Bizarre Conspiracy Theory After The Deadly Texas Floods - HuffPost - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: Trump & Congressional Republicans Big Ugly Bill Will Hurt American Families - New Democrat Coalition (.gov) - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- What the Republicans New Policy Bill Means for Higher Education - The New York Times - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Republicans used to be the fiscally conservative party, but look at us now - Idaho Capital Sun - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Trump Goes on a Charm Offensive as He Woos Holdout Republicans - The New York Times - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- U.S. Rep. Castor Statement on Republicans Big Ugly Bill That Will Inflict Outsized Harm & Raise Costs on Floridians - U.S. Representative Kathy... - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Opinion | Republicans may be cooking up a mess in Texas - The Washington Post - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Republicans, Democrats start gaming out Trump's tax-cut bill hit to 2026 elections - Reuters - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Republicans Pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Ahead of the July 4 Deadline - Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- These Republicans Savaged Their Partys Bill, Then Voted for It - The New York Times - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- How Republicans Re-engineered the Tax Code - The New York Times - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]