My Boomer mother tells me about the Nixon years. Crazy, but it sounds like some sort of Fantasy World. She says that, originally, Republicans defended Nixon, mostly through attempts to deflect. However, the tapes is what forced Republicans to turn on Nixon. She said it was a combination of doing what's right and self-preservation. She said that back in the Fantasy World days, prosecutors and the courts weren't bound by Party loyalty, and there was chatter of prosecutors going after other Republicans, so they basically just laid it all on Nixon and played dumb.
they're not really spineless, they're fully on board with this. This is how they hammer through everything they've been working for, the rest of us be damned.
I think it depends on the individual. There are plenty who earlier warned about how terrible Trump was, then once he was elected jumped on the bandwagon.
> I think it depends on the individual... plenty who earlier warned about how terrible Trump was, then... jumped on the bandwagon.
That kind of says the opposite - for the vast majority of individuals, incentives matter more than their innate convictions (and we're losing those at a fast rate, thanks to modern education and entertainment...)
“Checks and balances.”
More like cheques and (bank) balances.