Of the 293 Republicans serving in Congress when Trump was
inaugurated, nearly half of those
are gone, or are retiring or resigning. From Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) to Sen.
Pat Toomey (Pa.), Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) to Rep. Justin Amash (Ill.),
lawmakers with reliably conservative voting records were either primaried by
Trumpier candidates, left as a result of Trump’s pollution of the party or were
effectively pushed out.
And some, like Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), one of 10 House
Republicans who voted to impeach Trump the second time, cited unrelenting
death threats against his family as one reason for his early retirement.
While they were being squeezed out for their lack of fealty to
whatever Trumpism demanded in the moment, kooks and quacks like Rep. Lauren
Boebert (Colo.), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), and Rep. Madison Cawthorn
(N.C.) were ushered in with varying degrees of open arms.
The systematic hemorrhaging and purging of Republican lawmakers
has left the GOP an undiluted coagulation of Trump’s worst and most corrosive
impulses. The conspiracy theories, the bigotry and white nationalism, the
xenophobia and violent populism, the decidedly dumb culture wars over Big Bird and
manhood are all that’s left now.