An Authoritarian Party Continues to Take Shape

Over the weekend we found out that state-level Republican Parties are censuring those who voted to convict. They already censured those who voted to impeach, and there was a battle for the soul of the Republican Party in the House. They tried to remove Liz Cheney from leadership. Partly there is pressure from their right, and the likely formation of a Patriot Party, which believes Republicans are not radical enough.

That is the party level. Then there is the letter that Adam Kinzinger’s family wrote to him. Those concern me a lot more as a historian because we have seen this movie before. The best-known example is Nazi Germany.

This is crossing a bridge that is extremely dangerous. Indeed, it tells us that the nation is sharply divided, and while 30 percent of Republicans may be radicals, this is now openly reaching families. This is the other reason, I suspect, that many republicans are leaving the party. According to the New York Times:

An analysis of January voting records by The New York Times found that nearly 140,000 Republicans had quit the party in 25 states that had readily available data (19 states do not have registration by party). Voting experts said the data indicated a stronger-than-usual flight from a political party after a presidential election, as well as the potential start of a damaging period…