I'm sanguine.

Liberals are push, conservatives are pull - "If you want me to vote Democratic you have to pass my 90-point purity test" vs. "Yeah Trump is awful but my family votes Republican and always has." This works up to a point: the further outside the norm both parties reside, the less votes they get.

The basic platform of the Democratic Party remains center-right, much like the country. The basic platform of the Republican Party, on the other hand, is unabashedly reactionary fascist. Not only that, but they're reactionary for an era most voters never experienced - if 2024 is your first general election, Boys Don't Cry was in theaters seven years before you were born. Caitlyn Jenner came out when you were nine. You have never seen television where girls don't kiss. Dan Quayle going after Murphy Brown is about as relevant to you as Ed Sullivan.

The Republicans are going to get increasingly reactionary. They are also going to get increasingly isolated. I mean, look - I think we can all agree at this point that Donald Trump is a loser. By his own standards, by his own definitions, by the bravado of all Trumpism, Donald Trump is a loser, and nobody backs a loser. It's not like victory was snatched from his clutches - he's been simping one ineffective defense after another, like a toddler being dragged off to bed. Will he still be the Republican nominee? Probably. Is Clarence Thomas going to serve out the rest of his life in the Supreme Court? Probably.

But it becomes less and less relevant and effective. This is the thing that keeps the normie republicans awake at night - for the longest time, Democrats ignored the courts. Suddenly? They give a shit. And they have the bulk of the country behind them.

There is nothing in Republican behavior that grows more Republicans. They know it. They're trapped. The only thing they can do is attempt to moderate the rate of incineration.