After the 2016 election, Trump owed little or nothing to the GOP establishment, and both sides knew it. How would the two interact?
Mitch McConnell noted Trump’s personal and ideological unreliability and decided to treat him, not as the party leader, but as an independent third party with whom the GOP would maintain opportunistic alliances on issues of mutual interest. As a result, the GOP and Trump cooperated on tax cuts, deregulation, and the appointment of socially conservative judges. When Trump bashed allies, imposed tariffs, and attacked liberal democratic institutions, however, the party openly objected.
The last straw came with Ukraine. The GOP leadership was harshly critical of Trump’s attempts to coerce the Ukrainian government to support him, and thus joined the impeachment effort. Trump was convicted and removed from office. Mike Pence became president.
When the pandemic arrived, Pence made uninspiring, but reasonable efforts to control it. The public was impressed, and remembered the economy of 2019. The GOP consequently won a substantial victory in the 2020 election without making any allegations of fraud. The McConnell project would continue, but liberal democracy in America was safe, at least for the moment.