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One of The Washington Post's 10 Best Books of 2022 The disturbing eyewitness account of how a new breed of Republicans--led by Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, and Madison Cawthorn--far from moving on from Trump, have taken the politics of hysteria to even greater extremes and brought American democracy to the edge The violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, was a terrible day for American democracy, but many people dared to hope that at least it would break the fever that had overcome the Republican Party and banish Trump's relentless lies about the stealing of the 2020 election. That is not what happened. Instead, "the big steal" has become dogma among an ever-higher percentage of American Republicans. What happened to the Republican Party, and America, during the Trump presidency is a story we more or less think we know. What has happened to the party since, it turns out, is even more disquieting. That is the story Robert Draper tells in Weapons of Mass Delusion. Through his extraordinarily intrepid cross-country reporting, Draper chronicles the road from January 6 to the 2022 midterms among the Republican base and in the U.S. Congress, rendering unforgettable portraits of how Marjorie Taylor Greene and her ilk came to shape their party's terms of engagement to an extent that would have been unimaginable even five years ago. He also brings to life the efforts of a dwindling group of Republicans who are willing to push back against the falsehoods, in the face of a group of ascendent demagogues who are merrily weaponizing them. With a base whipped up into a perpetual frenzy of outrage by conspiracy theories--not just about the big steal but about COVID and vaccines, pedophilia and Antifa and Black Lives Matter and George Soros and President Obama, and on and on and on--the forces of reason within the GOP are on the defensive, to put it mildly. The book also benefits greatly from reporting conducted in Texas, Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, and other bellwether states in the country of the mind one might call a fever of undending conspiracies. Robert Draper has been a wise, fearless, and fair-minded chronicler of the American political scene for over twenty-five years. He has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. He has never seen it this ugly. Ultimately, this book tells the story of a fearful test of our ability, as a country, to hold together a system of government grounded in truth and the rule of law. Written on the eve of the 2022 midterm elections, Draper's account of a party teetering on the precipice of madness reveals how the GOP fringe became its center of gravity.

The magnate’s biographer explains the spiritual guide behind his relentless self-confidence.

The GOP’s internal strife is deepening this week, despite the narrow avoidance of a government shutdown over the weekend. An effort by hard-line Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to depose Speaker Kevi…

The ReAwaken America Tour, a pro-Trump religious roadshow, has become known for promoting Christian nationalism and right-wing conspiracy theories.

It’s a test — and a source — of loyalty.

Over one summer of decision in Philadelphia, the Founding Fathers hashed out exactly who was unfit to govern.

ed by a host of ”unknown others” in the militia movements of rural America.

Trump’s presidency may be best remembered for its cataclysmic end. But his four years as president also changed real American policy in lasting ways, just more quietly. We asked POLITICO’s best-in-class policy reporters to recap some of the ways Trump changed the country while in office, for better or worse.

Donald Trump made voters a number of promises before they elected him. But has he kept his word?

President Donald Trump's last job approval rating is a personal low 34%. He averaged 41% job approval in office, a record low by four points.

About a quarter of campaign promises were fulfilled, about a quarter he compromised, and about half he did not achieve.

Republican lawmakers raised objections to the official certification of electoral votes in a joint session of Congress that went into the wee hours of Thursday morning, in a futile effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. See who supported the objections.

Donald Trump is not a man apart. He is, instead, merely one of us writ large.

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president?

Monocausality is at the heart of a lot of our dysfunction.

This is a tough column to write, because I don’t want to demean or insult those who write me in good faith. I’ve started it a half dozen times since November but turned to other topics each time because this needle hard to thread.

A demagogue, or rabble-rouser, is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity. Demagogues overturn established norms of political conduct, or promise or threaten to do so.

Mental Health Experts Say the Hour-Long Exchange Shows Trump is 'Irrational, Unstable and Dangerous'

"Most all of us are contemplating leaving," one House Republican said.

Charles Zug unpacks the differences and similarities between demagoguery and populism.

An expert on autocracy assesses how far America has slipped away from democracy, and what it will take to get it back.

The Republican Party's transformation is apparent at any Donald Trump rally: The crowd is filled with working-class voters, many without college degrees, who are in lockstep with him on issues where he has overhauled the party's platform, from immigration to trade to foreign policy.

“It would be the dumbest move ever," says Republican Rep. Don Bacon.

We're told that populism is on the rise - but what exactly does that mean?