Republicans have supported/defended Donald Trump’s authoritarianism for almost three years, from deceiving about his loss in the 2020 election to inciting an uprising. This strategy backfired when Americans unexpectedly showed a willingness to vote in favour of democracy in both the 2022 elections and this year’s elections. 

Republicans, though, aren’t giving up and are really making more progress. Unbeknownst to many, they have reacted to these electoral defeats by engaging in ever more blatantly anti-democratic actions around the nation.

The pattern is starting to emerge: Republicans are strengthening their support for the previous president’s anti-majoritarian political system even as citizens mobilise to defend democracy at the polls. Voters are subsequently motivated by this.

Let’s begin with Michigan, where Trump’s resounding defeat in 2020 prompted MAGA supporters to restructure the state Republican Party around adherence to the “big lie.” The state’s administration was then decisively taken over by Democrats after the 2022 midterm elections, in which election-honest candidates across the nation suffered defeats at every level of the ballot. 

The Michigan GOP is currently in disarray. Just this month, the chairman demanded additional investigation into alleged 2020 fraud, which sparked conflict over disprove conspiracy theories. The party’s plunge into MAGA mania is also repelling funders, dwindling volunteer enthusiasm, and alienating swing voters, according to the New York Times. Trump’s chances in this critical battleground state in 2024 will be further diminished by all of that. 

State Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz, who won her seat earlier this year by 11 points and gave liberals a majority, is under threat of impeachment from the GOP-controlled state legislature. Democrats promoted Protasiewicz with advertisements on defending democracy, claiming that her success would stop attempts to overturn the state’s 2024 election results. 

But putting that silliness aside, Democrats will undoubtedly be able to mobilise votes against Trump and Republicans in 2024 by using those MAGA-approved strategies. According to some sources, “the threat to annul an election through impeachment pushes MAGA attacks on democracy to the forefront of voters’ minds.” 

All of this is consistent with what political science teaches us: When elites talk about issues frequently, voters become aware of them. That has unquestionably been the case with democracy and will undoubtedly remain the case in 2019. Big events, like Trump’s trial for crimes relating to January 6, 2021, and the GOP’s steadfast support in the face of these allegations, will only serve to highlight what is at stake.

Political sources told unnamed sources that “a consequential portion of the electorate will continue to vote on this issue as long as the MAGA-Trump faction remains a threat to free and fair elections.”

If there is any good news, it is that the MAGA doom loop may continue to have an impact into the year 2024. The consequences of this deadly loop may or may not affect the presidential election in the US.