"I liken the Republican Party’s refusal to hold President Trump accountable for his catastrophic presidential performance to the 2008 financial crisis. Both were manifestations of mass complicity and passivity, motivated by power and money.
Twelve years ago, the failure of an institution like Lehman Brothers was unthinkable; it was thought that the entire financial system would lose its presumptive infallibility. Nevertheless, those still standing after the crisis succumbed to the impulse to double down on the assumption that the prevailing public hostility toward financial institutions would pass, making it a worthwhile gamble to hang on to their spot in the hierarchy.
The same holds true for the Republican Party today. When the GOP looks at Trump, it can’t see beyond the larger ramifications of his presidency to the much less consequential act of taking down one of their own. Almost every GOP officeholder, from state representatives to U.S. senators, refuses to condemn Trump because it seems like a better bet to gamble on his survival than to give up their seat at the table.