In 2010, the Tea Party movement enjoyed the support of 52 percent of Republicans, according to Gallup. Five years later, that support among Republicans had fallen by about half. Now, pollsters rarely even ask about the Tea Party.
In 2008, John McCain inflicted Sarah Palin on the country when he chose the Republican governor as his vice-presidential running mate. Palin was divisive and incendiary and prone to straying from the truth. But, in the beginning, she was popular among Republicans.
In 2010, among Republicans, she was the most liked possible Republican presidential contender for the 2012 contest. And yet, this year Palin lost a special election for a House seat to a Democrat in Alaska, a red state that Trump won in 2016 and in 2020.
At the height of their popularity in the party, it would have been hard to imagine the fall of any of these figures. But it happened. And it will likely happen to Trump.
For decades, conservatives have been a mass of angst and anger ready to hitch themselves to the next flaming chariot. They convince themselves, in the moment, that some principle is propelling their attachments — economic restraint, safe borders, anti-wokeness — but it is, in fact, just a perpetual rebellion against inclusion and enlightenment.
For them, change, growth and evolution are the enemy.
I will admit that change and growth can be messy; there can be missteps, which conservatives will inevitably seize upon as an indictment of change. But change is irrepressible and inevitable.
So, too many Republicans latch on to people who represent resistance and regression, people who claim the ability and desire to freeze time and reverse it.
Charles M. Blow
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