I cannot recall a time when there were not at least 2 or 3 Republicans who I just

[Caliman73]

66. We are actually seeing the natural progression of Conservative ideology.

Someone once called Conservatism, "ineffectual fascism". I tend to agree with that assumption. While the two ideologies are not the same, they are cousins.

I never bought into the idea that Conservatives just want "smaller government", "fiscal responsibility", and "family values". Conservatism at its core, is the belief that society is best structured as a hierarchy with the "best people" at the top. The ideology was developed when Monarchy was being challenged by the American and French Revolutions with Hobbes' earlier precursor during the English Civil War (Cromwell). American Conservatives (if you can call them that) during the Revolutionary period were the Loyalists, who wanted to remain under King George. While we cast off monarchy, we did not cast of the belief system behind monarchy. People still (even the Founders) had the idea that the "mob" should have no power. Some of them thought Black people were not citizens and the indigenous people were "near White" but savage, however, once their land was desired, the indigenous actually stated being depicted in the same way Black people were.

Conservatism, left unrestrained, will always be subsumed into more radical right wing ideologies, and will develop into some kind of authoritarian regime, including fascism.

The "normal" Republicans/Conservatives started to vanish as soon as right wingers developed their own media ecosystem. When there was a more unified "mainstream" media, Conservatives had to at least appear to be normal. They had to compromise. Once Nixon was forced to resign, Conservative said, "never again" and started working on a concerted effort to develop a message machine through radio and television. The internet boosted this plan and now you can go your whole life without ever hearing actual journalism, all the while believing that JFK Jr. is coming back from the dead to be Trump's VP and fight the child trafficking cabal lead by Hillary Clinton.