A descriptive and normative characterization of the Republican Party that admits of far too few exceptions

The GOP is the political party of imaginary if not delusionary grievances, of crass and clownish schtick, of denial and desperation, of repugnance and regression, of illusion and irrationality, of empty gestures and vain cynicism, of authoritarianism and aspirational fascism, of obscene wealth and amoral power, of sycophants and cults, of self-deception and phantasy, of white supremacy (and racism generally) and narcissistic privilege, of putatively Christian nationalism, a faux populism of bread and circuses that has failed to conceal, let alone contain, a degraded and debased political practice mired in a toxic dump of greed, corruption, and sleaze. Republicans effectively tolerate and thus provide a de facto endorsement of the epidemic of gun violence and mass shootings in this country. The Republican Party continues to peddle QAnon phantasies, continues to minimize the constitutional and democratic threats, dangers and deadly consequences of the Jan. 6^th insurrection, and continues its perfervid devotion to purely performative politics, pornographic political theater which routinely and shamelessly invokes the mind-numbing, soul-degrading, and polarizing rhetoric of culture wars to distract their constituents from the patently plain fact that they cannot govern, that they have no coherent or responsible political policies to proffer the voting public.