The GOP's hatred for the federal government and its ability to regulate business has a long history. That hatred got put into high gear in the Reagan era when inept monetary management gave us extreme inflation and flat wage growth. Since then, anything that benefits workers and is a federal program has been labeled "socialism".

It didn't help when the DNC discovered neoliberalism about that same time and its policies began looking more like those of the GOP with each election, but it resonated with a mostly econ ignorant voter population and nothing succeeds like success. The voters, for the most part, haven't gotten any smarter, but they are getting more desperate as neoliberal and neocon policies move more of the productivity gains to the donor class and the working class is, once again, stagnant in wage growth and political options to remedy that aren't promising.

Don't be surprised if another Trump makes his/her way onto the political stage and assumes the leadership of the GOP in '24. Also don't be surprised if the DNC remains feckless and remarkably adept at losing when it should be winning in landslides all over the country. We will likely see Dem majorities erased, once again, next year unless the party's leadership can manage to go against their donors and present some truly bold measures the people can benefit from.

Desperate people gravitate toward authoritarian figures and are more accepting of their trampling of rights, as long as they perceive the rights being trampled as belonging to someone else who shouldn't have them in the first place. Americans have voted against their own best interests in almost every primary and election since '80 and I don't see that changing now.