This distinction is key: The modern conservative movement was founded in opposition to egalitarian pluralism - something conservatives derided as “relativism” and an assault on the “natural” order. The question has always been: If society moved away from their vision, would they embrace extremism?

This conflict has defined the modern Right. As the conservative movement was formed, at its core, as an anti-“Left” - meaning: opposed to leveling existing hierarchies in the name of egalitarianism - coalition, a radicalizing dynamic was constitutive: Whatever it takes to defeat “the Left.”

I think we are getting the answer to that question

Agree, but I wonder if this could be re-phrased that the "modern conservative movement" is best understood as the latest manifestation of the perennial illiberalism, essentially racist in both South and North, that has been in the USA since before its founding.