Republican primaries, which were once a sparring ground for ideas, have too often of late become battles over attitude and tests of personal loyalty to Donald Trump. Some candidates seek to prove their bona fides by embracing false claims about the 2020 election being stolen, precisely because they know that responsible opponents will be unwilling to do so. Too many campaigns revolve around the idea that candidates should be not just unyielding or combative but transgressive. When voters reward this behavior, it is imitated further.
Just as cynically, Democrats — while professing alarm at claimed threats to democracy — have poured tens of millions of dollars into backing the most transgressive candidates, especially those who attended the January 6 “stop the steal” rally. The model is Harry Reid helping Sharron Angle beat Sue Lowden in 2010 and Claire McCaskill throwing financial support behind Todd Akin in 2012.
