Seth Masket Examines How 2016 Trump Rise Remade the GOP
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 17
Seth Masket Examines How 2016 Trump Rise Remade the GOP
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 17
Summary
Seth Masket argues Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican Party forced politicians and voters to reorganize around him, making adaptability a defining trait of GOP survival after 2016.
Lindsey Graham is his central example: after sharply criticizing Trump in 2015 and 2016, the senator recast himself within a year as one of Trump’s closest allies.
Masket says that shift was not pure ideological conversion but a political adaptation to a changed party, though Graham still diverged from Trump on some issues, including a more hawkish stance on Ukraine.
The analysis, drawn from Masket’s book on how Trump voters seized control from Republican leaders, frames Graham’s evolution as a window into what the post-Trump Republican Party may become.