The GOP wants their agenda installed and preserved, indefinitely. They want lower taxes, lower regulation on business, and a business-friendly environment. They want policies which favor management and corporations. They want to cut back on welfare programs and the legacy of the New Deal, because they all require increased tax revenue. They also want to make it difficult for private citizens or non-profit organizations to litigate against businesses or organize against them. And they certainly don’t want unions. I don’t think I’m being unfair in this characterization. If you ask them they’ll be the first to tell you this is exactly what they want. They sincerely believe those policies are what’s best for the nation. Republicans are either in that class, or if not, sincerely believe they belong in it and should work to bring its program about.

In addition, Republicans have to provide social and cultural bennies for their allies and to assuage their fears and concerns; controls on immigration, trade and job policies, abortion and contraception and other concessions to religious groups, which draws them into educational policy, and so on. Although I really don’t believe the leadership of the GOP is particularly racist, sexist or homophobic, some of these issues have purely economic implications–i.e., Republicans don’t necessarily hate women or minorities, but they benefit by keeping salaries low and workers divided. Discriminatory practices help to do that–in fact, that is the primary reason they still exist. And of course, many of the political allies of the GOP ARE racist, nativist, sexist and homophobic. These additional policies may not be of much interest to all Republicans, but they are willing to support them in order to get the votes they need to promote what they do want.

That is what they want. In order to get it they need majorities in the House and Senate, friendly courts, control in the State Houses and governorships, an infrastructure of NGOs, think tanks and lobbies, a heavy representation in the bureaucracy, a coherent intelligentsia and theoretical core, a united and manipulable base of voters who can maintain these majorities, and a President who will not veto their bills and can articulate and mobilize their program. This is exactly what the Democrats want too, its just that their final goals are different–and they haven’t been very successful at organizing themselves to bring them about.

The Republicans have achieved this. They have won an astonishing and unprecedented victory. And they also have installed national media that will promote their policies and frustrate those of their opponents. They are now in a position to get every single thing they want. Of course they are in no mood to compromise, they’ve won! They are not about to give that all up just because their President is incompetent, and perhaps even a little mad.

I believe they will try to find a way to eliminate him, probably before the next mid-term election, and place Pence in the Oval Office. Pence can move their program forward without the erratic and haphazard stumbling of the Donald. But as long as Trump is popular, and their program is advancing, there will be little pressure on the GOP to mobilize effectively against him. Why should they? They are getting everything they want, and everything their base wants. And they know that their base does not represent a majority of the American people. They are going to do everything they can to maintain the electoral college majority that got them here, because they know if the contest becomes one of pure numbers they will lose. They will be inclined to make excuses for Mr Trump, look the other way, and hope for the best. It’s just human nature.

And lets face it; I don’t thing things would be any different if the situation was reversed, that is, the Dems were in charge and their POTUS was crazy and incompetent. What we are watching is a national tutorial on naked self-interest, and as you point out, hypocrisy.

The founders crafted a magnificent system of checks and balances to prevent just this sort of thing from happening, but it is not guaranteed to work forever, under every and all circumstances. Sooner or later, a set of conditions will arise that will generate sufficient positive feedback (just like in AGW!) that will make democracy as we know it unstable. It will oscillate out of control. Either that, or some unforeseen external or international crisis, mismanaged and unchecked by an administration obsessed with getting its own way instead of finding the right path, will arise and initiate a cascade of catastrophes that will bring us down.

That crisis may have nothing to do with partisan issues, it may be military, environmental, a natural disaster–an event that could strike at any time, regardless of who is in power. But if the nation is divided and paralyzed as well, or handicapped by an incompetent or deluded leader supported by a party determined to keep him in power for their own reasons…it could bring down the Republic. America may survive, but it will be unrecognizable.