Let me say this as clearly as possible, because people keep getting it wrong.

Republican lawmakers didn’t stick with Trump because they were hypnotized...terrified...or somehow helpless. They stuck with him because he’s one of them.

Trump didn’t corrupt a moral party. He exposed a corrupt one.

If Trump were merely embarrassing...reckless...or rude... they would have dumped him years ago. Politicians abandon liabilities fast. What they don’t abandon...are mutual liabilities.

Trump normalized behavior that many of them were already guilty of:

ethical shortcuts...financial murkiness... abuse of power...contempt for oversight... lying as policy. He didn’t invent the rot...he gave it cover.

And here’s the part people don’t like to hear:

For a lot of Republicans in Congress, Trump isn’t the risk. Accountability is.

Trump absorbs attention like a sponge. While everyone is watching his circus...others operate quietly in the shadows. He’s not a distraction...he’s a shield. A very useful one.

Once they crossed certain lines together...election lies, January 6th...obstruction...weaponization of government ...there was no clean exit. Loyalty became self-preservation.

Defection meant subpoenas...investigations...and career death.

That’s why the so-called “good Republicans” vanished. They weren’t persuaded. They were purged. Retired. Primaried. Marginalized. What you’re seeing now isn’t universal agreement...it’s selection pressure.

Only those comfortable with ethical decay remain.

This is how systems rot. Not with villains twirling mustaches...but with people who decide…one compromise at a time…that survival matters more than principle.

Trump didn’t take over the GOP. The GOP recognized itself in Trump.

And that’s why expecting them to “come to their senses” is a fantasy. You can’t ask people to enforce standards that would incriminate them.

The alliance holds...because it has to.

That’s not psychology. That’s incentive structure.

And until people stop confusing fear...with complicity... they’ll keep being shocked by behavior that was always predictable.