Nobody would've believed it at the time, but Trump ended up being the best thing that could have possibly happened to the Republican party, because it let them go completely mask off in their hatred for anyone who didn't fit their narrow conception of who an American was, and get away with it with only token challenges from an ineffectual Democratic opposition. Granted, Trump himself is just as clueless about how and why this happened as the rest of us, but it is clear that a figure like him emerging at the time that he did within the toxic culture that exists on the right these days has really created a perfect storm of terror. Of course, you guys will find some way to fuck it all up eventually because that's what you always do, it's just a question of how much damage you will do to the rest of the country before that happens.