The South Carolina Representative originally made a name for herself by her willingness to speak up as a moderate in the GOP, and speak out against Trump. She now appears to be ingratiating herself with Trump.
Republican actions/words can only be explained through one word: Kompromat. Well, sure other pejoratives work, idiotic, weak, hate-bating, etc. But nothing
explainswhat they do and say as well as kompromat.
The most frustrating thing about moderate rhetoric regarding the trump administration is the myth of a pre-trump republican party that was more civil, more for the people, and more willing to work together. Trumps loud mouth causes him to more overtly buck norms and make the fascism more transparent, but the party as a whole has been like this at least since the Reagan era.
Objectively Trump’s actions have been that of a fairly normal republican president. Dog whistles of voter fraud have been around since the bush administration, rhetoric that others minorities and the poor has been around since reagan’s welfare queens, and the republican strategy of mass appointing judges is also an old one that predates trump by a long shot. Trump is a symptom not the disease. He is a loudmouth who overtly gives away the game, but the game has always been there. Hearing on npr and other moderate heavy voices act as if trump came out of nowhere and that things would just return to normal when he’s gone was a frustrating part of the news cycle during his presidency.