There are tens of millions of conservatives in the U.S. For American democracy to succeed, they need a political party that productively channels their aspirations, represents their ideologies, mediates their conflicts and functions in accord with democratic values and the rule of law.
No such party exists.
The vacuum is only partly a collective action problem. Pro-democracy conservative elites have failed to organize to defend democracy and advance their interests. The third-tier candidates opposing Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for the GOP presidential nomination can’t even settle on a narrative for why such brazenly anti-democratic politicians pose a danger.
