alt Hacker NewsI've thought the same multiple times over the last few years. I can't remember all the events, but it was at least four separate times, most notably with January 6th. Every time it went like this:
1. Users on /r/conservative (& other conservative forums) show a surprisingly negative reaction to something done by the GOP
2. Over the next few days, their media starts repeating individual social media responses that seem to find agreement. They don't have to make sense, they just have to terminate the thought.
3. In the communities more and more voices spread those same responses while shouting down reasonable commenters from 1., declaring them "non-MAGA" or "RINOs"
4. After a few days/weeks, all opposing voices have been drowned out, and their moderation teams delete any posts that could sway their opinion/goes against the current.
Prion dynamics (per gpt):
- Misfolding & Conversion: A normal, functional prion protein (PrP C) changes shape into a misfolded, pathogenic form (PrP Sc), which acts as a template to convert more PrP C into PrP Sc.
- Self-Propagation: The core of prion dynamics is this autocatalytic cycle, where PrP Sc recruits and converts normal PrP C, leading to exponential growth. Aggregation: These misfolded proteins clump together, forming large aggregates (amyloid) that deposit in the brain, causing neurodegeneration.
- Fragmentation: For propagation to continue, large aggregates must break down (fragment) into smaller pieces (seeds) that can initiate new conversion cycles, a process crucial for disease progression and influenced by chaperones like Hsp104 in yeast.
The group you are describing would indeed need to remove the misfolded protein for survival.
In terms of hope:
".... For propagation to continue, large aggregates must break down (fragment) into smaller pieces (seeds) that can initiate new conversion cycles"
In other words, the Republican party could be looking at serious fracturing into many many post-mango camps, ala Margerie Taylor Green leaving the MAGA camp. These dynamics are probably exactly how the conservatives got co-opted by the MAGA strain.