I agree with your post but I'd add this -- there's no "long game"; the focus of the GOP isn't power, authoritarianism, etc. -- it's employment; namely their own. The vast, vast majority of them know this is all horrible but they are so afraid of countering it because it will cost them their jobs if they do. MAGA fanatics will primary them. Every one who's dared to speak out has been purged. Anyone who breathed the word "compromise" with Democrats in order to accimplish anything has been cast out. That's the power of the cult. That's why the central problem is cowardice. It's why Liz Cheney is right about the shame that will stick with them forever.
