Sure, follow the money all the way to Moscow.
But I’m gobsmacked that this twerp can’t be brought up for defrauding the electorate.
I still find this stunning.
The Party of Nixon and Reagan has morphed into the Party of Russian stooges!
How the hell did that happen?
Tom
As they say on Facebook, it's complicated. It's the confluence of a lot of factors, but it all starts with the Republican realization they were a minority party and would remain so as long as working class white people identified with the Democratic party. After WW2, the Democratic Party took up the flag of civil rights. This had sort of been a Republican corner because of the "Lincoln freed the slaves" thing. Post Reconstruction governments in the Confederate States were all Democratic controlled and were responsible for the harshest Jim Crow laws.
It was Nixon who first exploited white working class fears following riots in various large cities. This led to a shift in the Republican demographic. Along with the white working class, came the white supremacist segment. This is not a large group, but after the fall of the Soviet Union, they found an affinity for the new autocratic regime, especially the anti-Semitic elements of the new Russian political order. This led to many "friend of a friend" contacts between Russian operatives and GOP backers. There was plenty of money to go around. Nothing gets a Republican's attention quite like a fat PAC and no one questions from where the money came.
It was not long before the GOP found itself in a bind. Those who depended on Russian support, were the most radical elements. Moderate Republicans found themselves getting squeezed in the middle and as the extreme right expanded, became branded as Republican in name only. It's never been difficult to make extreme politics palatable to middle of the road voters and it's much easier when the GOP is out of power. Modern campaigns are more expensive than ever because the internet has replaced television and radio as the prime medium for the message. This seemed counter intuitive, but effective campaigns need to be targeted to specific group or even a specific person. While the delivery is cheap, the research and sorting of data is very expensive.
This gave Russia even more influence over GOP politics as Russian moles, trolls, and bots, invaded the US internet, planting and sharing fake news(the genuine fake news). The GOP has become like an embezzler who works two jobs, stealing from one to cover his theft from the other. He can't quit either job and he can't quit stealing.
The problem faced by political extremists in the US is that when they gain power, they can't govern. So much of their political goals are based on distorted facts and often blatant falsehoods, when given the reigns, they can't accomplish anything of value. For example, trying to fight a pandemic after accepting antivaxxers as a valid science or building a border fence while the majority of undocumented immigrants arrive by plane.