Sure, it tells us that these “religious leaders” are nothing but power-obsessed moral ninnies. And sure, it tells us that Trump knows he’s in deep trouble with suburban women, who vote in such numbers in the key swing states that they can determine who wins and who loses. Those two points are obvious.
But here’s the more interesting thing it tells us. It tells us that there is no Republican Party outside of Donald Trump. There is no desire on the part of any prominent Republican for there to be a Republican Party outside of Donald Trump. Sure, Mitch McConnell may privately loathe him, and Republican senators may laugh at him behind his back. But when and where it matters—in public, in front of the voters who hold the fate of our democracy in their hands—they are almost all, to a person, Trumpists. They are destroying the country, and they are destroying the party they claim to love.
Now—here’s the “but.” All the above applies to the red-hot MAGAs, but it does not apply to the rest of America, which includes a chunk of Republicans. What percentage of Americans are red-hot MAGAs? We think we know—generally it seems to be around 35 percent. But we also know that the vast majority of party members vote for their party’s nominee—usually, that number is above 90 percent. According to CNN’s 2020 exit polling, both Biden and Trump got 94 percent of their party rank and file’s vote. (Biden won independents 54-41, which is why he won.)