In wondering where the end of Trumpistan lays, I keep coming back to the inherent contradictions between Old School GOP and MAGA, plus the contradictions between MAGA and reality. At some point, there should be a schism. We are already seeing elite Republicans who no longer are running for office refusing to endorse Trump and a handful saying they will vote for Biden.
A fascinating example of another schism is playing out in Virginia's primary for the fifth House district. Bob Good represents the very red district in rural Virginia between the I-95 corridor and the Blue Ridge mountains. He was a leader of the Tea Party and the Freedumb Caucus. He's a bomb throwing conservative, but he endorsed Ron DeSantis early on, then switched to Trump when DeSantis dropped out.
So Trump declared him a traitor, prompting the primary challenge from John McGuire. Now, Good was board with election denial, he thinks Dobbs didn't go far enough, he helped oust Kevin McCarthy. Good is about as far to the right as anyone in Congress, but he briefly flirted with the guy who didn't launch an insurrection to overthrow the 2020 election, despite endorsing the bullshit election fraud claims.
There is literally no rational reason for Good to warrant a serious challenge in VA-5. However, as of writing this, McGuire is leading Good by about 350 votes. (It will be hilarious to see two election denialists fight over "fraud" in an election this close. Also, the folks doing actual fraud are usually Republicans, so if they find a few fraudulent votes...hoo boy.)
McGuire's ascendancy is a perfect encapsulation of where the current GOP is: a cult of personality around Donald Trump - perhaps the worst person in America. At some point, cults of personality collapse under the weight of reality.
That schism is one that can't get here soon enough.
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