Harris I think really did catch them off guard. Which is a bit surprising?
If we were talking about the GOP of 12 years ago, they would have been able to pivot to Harris much more easily.
Trump ate the brain of the party in an almost literal way. A lot of the people who knew how stuff worked--McCain, Paul Ryan, Dick Cheney, Romney--were all pushed away or were disgusted with Trump. Basically all the smart, Lawful Evil people. This cycle completed itself this past spring/summer, when Trump replaced all the internal GOP committee members with his own people. They were chosen for loyalty first, and competence a distant second.
That factor of loyalty first/competence later makes fascism fall apart in the long run. However, they can do a whole lot of damage while the failures work themselves out. If we could figure out a way to get them to speedrun this process, we'd have a very effective tool to fight fascism.
If we were talking about the GOP of 12 years ago, they would have been able to pivot to Harris much more easily.
Trump ate the brain of the party in an almost literal way. A lot of the people who knew how stuff worked--McCain, Paul Ryan, Dick Cheney, Romney--were all pushed away or were disgusted with Trump. Basically all the smart, Lawful Evil people. This cycle completed itself this past spring/summer, when Trump replaced all the internal GOP committee members with his own people. They were chosen for loyalty first, and competence a distant second.
That factor of loyalty first/competence later makes fascism fall apart in the long run. However, they can do a whole lot of damage while the failures work themselves out. If we could figure out a way to get them to speedrun this process, we'd have a very effective tool to fight fascism.