The old Republican coalition has split. Dick Cheney has endorsed Kamala Harris. George W. Bush wrote in Condoleezza Rice on his 2020 ballot and has not made an endorsement in 2024.

More than a hundred pre-Trump era Republican officials signed an open letter endorsing Harris, citing Trump’s record on national security and the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

The reason for this split is that Trump supporters care about liberty but not democracy, whereas old-guard figures like Cheney care about democracy but not liberty.

Base Republicans tend to roll their eyes when Never-Trumpers insist that Trump is a “threat to democracy,” but there’s a grain of truth to what they are saying. The Cheneys and Bushes are right that Trump disrespects democratic norms.

For example, Trump retweeted a video suggesting that he would run for more than two terms. Although he did not encourage the Jan. 6 capitol riot, he also did not immediately tell his supporters to stop rioting.

Trump stands out among modern presidents in his willingness to seek friendly relations with autocrats like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. While other presidents have been willing to befriend autocracies like Saudi Arabia, pre-Trump presidents always framed these relationships with autocrats as temporary alliances against a greater authoritarian threats (for example, the USSR).

It should be said that the Republican base would distinguish between these democratic norms and........

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