I think Ted Cruz's January 6 speech is probably the best indicator of where the GOP is heading. He basically said "our base believes the cynical lies we've been feeding them, and it's my democratic duty to represent their views whether I agree or not." https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/06/ted-cruzs-electoral-vote-speech-will-live-infamy/

Now that Trump has given the GOP permission to float entirely free of empirical reality & create their own, hermetically-sealed media space for their voters, they can manufacture whatever passionate desire their base supposedly wants, & then claim to democratically represent it.

As long as the media and Democrats continue to accept Cruz's BS line of "I don't condone these untruths, but you're an elitist if you don't advocate for the people who believe them" then it will continue to work.

You know who the real elitists are? The billionaires who fund propaganda outlets in order to alchemically transform the manufactured cultural resentments of working and middle class white people into tax cuts and deregulation for rich people.