There is only one thing you really need to know about the current state of politics in the United States:  those in control of one side believe that the ends justify the means; those in control of the other do not.

Although both sides are passionately attached to their agendas, only one side has decided that it will do and say anything to achieve it.    The new GOP is a party which no longer recognizes or respects any constraint:  neither the dictates of morality (which prescribe those means that are off limits, no matter how desirable the ends), nor the law, nor the political traditions that have enabled two centuries of democratic governance. 

How did this happen?    First, the GOP became infused with the righteousness and certitude of the religious right.   When your agenda is dictated by God, is it hardly surprising that you will go to any length to achieve it.  Second, the previous cultural and ethical constraints on political ambition were demolished by the Trump presidency.  For Trump personally, the need to feed his insatiable narcissism justifies anything, no matter how morally repugnant or harmful to others.  These twin pathologies infected the GOP, which, zombie like, was transformed into a single-minded monster whose raison d'être is the pursuit of power.  When that pursuit comes at the expense of truth, constitutional democracy, rule of law, our national security and standing in the world, or even simple decency – all these can be dismissed as justifiable collateral damage.  After all, the ends justify the means.

Almost all criticism of the new Trumpian GOP is met with “but what about . . .”  And yes, the other side is hardly saintly.    And yes, they have an extreme wing that sometimes pushes whacky and even dangerous ideas.    But this obscures the one thing you need to understand to navigate the new political landscape:  one side believes that the ends justify the means and the other does not.    

There are thus only two possible outcomes.  In the first, through overwhelming electoral defeat, the right is forced to return to contesting for its agenda within the previous constraints (some minimum level of respect for veracity, abjuring violence, and accepting the rules of constitutional democracy).  In the second, the GOP succeeds in obtaining permanent power, which leads to the end of the American experiment.  

235 years ago Ben Franklin famously announced the outcome of the Constitutional Convention to a Philadelphia matron:  “A republic, Madam, if you can keep it.”  The you is now us.