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I've found it pretty interesting watching the GOP struggle with how to handle their new MAGA base. State parties are over run with them, and now Senators and House members are scared of primaries and have no idea on how to vote on anything. So why is this? A Theory....(1/x)
For the past few decades, the GOP has been made up of two factions....the donor/policy class (a relatively small group whose main concern is lower taxes/regulations and pro-business laws) ......
and the voter/issue class (the much larger group whose main reasons for voting are issues such as abortion, gun rights, "limited government", evangelical Christians, etc). The key to this class of voter is that they don't have "policy" goals.
So the groups voted together and put the GOP in power. While the GOP was in power, they enacted policy that pleased the donor class and kept the voter base whipped up with fear tactics like Dems are coming for your guns, SOCIALISM!, etc
The MAGA base which has over taken the voter base, is not like the old base in that they are calling for the GOP to actually take action on the old fear tactics. The establishment/donor GOP was completely unprepared for that.
The entire policy division of the GOP is based on keeping the donors happy. You weren't required to actually do anything for the voter base other than keep them scared of Democrats.
Now, the MAGA base is calling for actual action on their unfounded fears of voter fraud, evil immigrants, "dangerous radical leftists", etc. The establishment has always know that all of their fear tactics were BS and thus can't actually do anything about it.
So if you're a no name establishment GOP rep, you're scared of a primary because you've never actually done anything for the base. It's going to be easy to primary these people because the base has no policy allegiance to the current GOP.
If you can make the base madder or promise to do things like over turn elections and jail Democratic members of Congress, the base will eat that up and suddenly you have MTG in Congress.
So the current GOP has to either start crafting policy for sane Republicans and hope they can win primaries, or jettison the MAGA base and hope they can attract back moderates that they have been losing
This is great opening for Democrats to continue to highlight the gap between the policy goals of the donors and the complete lack of policy concern for the voter class.
I think that explains why certain GOP members were able to vote guilty on impeachment. They can actually pitch to voters something specifically about them. Collins, Romney, Murk, Sasse...they aren't just generic GOP to voters (even if they are on policy)
But guys like Lankford in OK were "forced" to vote to acquit. He can't go back to the base and talk about what he's done, because he and the establishment GOP can't offer the voters anything that they've done policy wise.
