Because the Trump cult got emboldened after Trump won in 2016, and it quickly became clear that any Republican that wasn’t sufficiently “unggh, Daddy Trump, destroy me harder” would get primaried by someone that was. Kiss the ring or be excommunicated.
It’s hard to feel sympathetic for them about it though, the spent the previous 20+ years paying lip service to types of people who make up the Trump cult because they were convenient for winning elections. They just never expected those people would do anything besides vote in the most respectable business-friendly Republican. Leopards, faces, yadda yadda yadda.
Because the Trump cult got emboldened after Trump won in 2016, and it quickly became clear that any Republican that wasn’t sufficiently “unggh, Daddy Trump, destroy me harder” would get primaried by someone that was. Kiss the ring or be excommunicated.
It’s hard to feel sympathetic for them about it though, the spent the previous 20+ years paying lip service to types of people who make up the Trump cult because they were convenient for winning elections. They just never expected those people would do anything besides vote in the most respectable business-friendly Republican. Leopards, faces, yadda yadda yadda.