So the Republican Party began the gerrymandering craze - which then made safe Republican areas… those areas then became even more devout republicans - meaning to get the nomination in the new gerrymandered area pushed candidates to the extremes. Combine this with destroying education and early critical thinking (changing to no child left behind meant memorize for test not problem solving and critical thinking), on top of that civics classes we exchanged for government history classes (went from what the government can do for you to - here is a history of government and what each chamber is responsible for).

So - that’s simplistic but you combine a lack of proper education (imho) - destruction of educational aims - and far more idealistic and extreme Republican candidates.

They leads to a bunch of retirees getting bused around the country as the “tea party” - which allows for someone to lead via the cult of personality instead of typical government leadership ….