Is this the new normal?

[Garrett78]

8. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And the GOP has grown increasingly desperate.

Republicans have seen the writing on the wall (social progression, increased secularism, changing demographics, etc.), so their tactics have become increasingly extreme (intense voter suppression and gerrymandering, uber-deregulation and uber-privatization, full-throated attacks on science and public education, persistent attacks on the "liberal media" to help shift the Overton Window, mainstreaming what should be fringe media, stealing a Supreme Court seat and packing the judiciary with right wing ideologues, aligning with dictators who share the goal of undermining democracy for personal enrichment, replacing the dog whistle with a bullhorn, and so on). They can still take comfort in a tyranny of the minority system which, paradoxically, makes major structural reform nearly impossible to bring about for the very reasons why such reform is so desperately needed. Still, they have reason to fear and thwart the impacts of social evolution. They are acting accordingly while they still can.