Recent Primary Results Show the GOP Is Still Sliding Toward Authoritarianism
Candidates who amplified false claims about Donald Trump winning in 2020 did very well in this month’s primaries. Their victories are one more step in the direction of authoritarianism.

Donald Trump embraces Republican candidate for governor Kari Lake at a “Save America” rally in support of Arizona GOP candidates on July 22, 2022 in Prescott Valley, Arizona. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)
When Trump-backed candidates did worse than expected in Georgia’s May primaries, many media outlets declared that his influence over the Republican Party was waning. But after primaries taking place the last two weeks, those reports are starting to look like wishful thinking.
Last week, Trump-endorsed candidates performed strongly in primaries in Arizona, Michigan, and Missouri against relatively moderate rivals. And Tuesday, Trump endorsee Tim Michels won GOP the nomination for Wisconsin governor, beating former lieutenant governor Rebecca Kleefisch by five percentage points.
In addition to standard Republican fare, Michels campaigned on abolishing the Wisconsin Elections Commission and replacing it with a more partisan alternative. He has also suggested Wisconsin’s 2020 electoral votes may have been stolen from Trump and asserted that “there [were] certainly illegal ballots.”