Here’s a brief and recent history of the Republican Party turning into the sick weirdos that they are today. Some of you may remember back in the glory days of 2012, when Barack Obama had just beaten Mitt Romney for his second term.

The 2012 R primaries were a collective clown car of bad candidates. Romney was just the least embarrassing choice. They love DJT bc he accurately reflects the base, but also bc he saved them from more embarrassment in ‘16. If we get to see Rs post-DJT it will be a mess of weirdos lost in the woods.

The GOP was shook: what they believed at the time was that Barack Obama was a historically unpopular president, and that the slice of wonderbread they had run was a decorated businessman who reached across the aisle and would have broad appeal.

Good lord they are such a bunch of fucking weirdos

I feel that a significant cause of this was the Tea Party movement. The institutional capture that we see in American government generally was preceded by a similar process within the Republican party that pushed out many moderate voices — i.e., not crazy ones — and intimidated the rest.

...and Birtherism was the easiest way to energize the fucking weirdos.

Ahh, Mittens Less fraught times