In a column for the Bulwark, conservative campaign consultant Sarah Longwell claims the Republican Party as it was once constituted will soon be a thing of the past because all the "good Republicans" are being driven from the party.
Reacting to the news that Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) is surrendering his seat in order to become the president of the University of Florida, joining an exodus of GOP lawmakers who have thrown up their hands over the influence of Donald Trump, Longwell claims there is a sea-change in the GOP that has its roots in what she calls the "right-wing infotainment" industry.
Writing, "What was the extinction event for Good Republicans?" she explained, "Ultimately, it’s the end-stage of what I call the Republican Triangle of Doom™: The toxic and symbiotic relationship between GOP voters, GOP elected officials, and the right-wing infotainment media."
According to the campaign consultant, there is a substantial segment of hard-right voters who only get their news from outlets that reflect their worldview and those outlets are competing with each other for viewership by becoming more and more outrageous.
At the same time, existing and aspiring GOP candidates are fighting for airtime and they are soon trapped into appearing on those same outlets.
As she explained, "It works like this: Hardcore base voters want to watch media that confirms all their priors and then some. —> So fringe media outlets get traction with Republican audiences. —> GOP politicians need to go on these media outlets in order to reach base voters. —> The more politicians go on these fringe shows, the more mainstream these outlets become. —> Which creates competition for right-wing news outlets that are one standard deviation more sane, forcing those media outlets to get crazier just to stay on par."
"Over time, the whole mutually reinforcing, mutually radicalizing process creates the conditions necessary for 70 percent of the Republican party to sincerely believe that Joe Biden is an illegitimate president due to a rigged election. It’s hard to blame voters for believing a lie when every politician they see and media personality they trust is repeating it," she wrote before adding, "Normal GOP politicians who don’t want to swim in the right-wing infotainment cesspool are deemed traitors for throwing in with the 'corporate media' and so lose credibility with GOP audiences. Which makes it virtually impossible for them to have a future in the Republican party."
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