Whatever the outcome of midterms, don’t expect Republicans to return to ‘normal’ | Cas Mudde

Anyone hoping a poor election showing might pull the party back from extremism doesn't see the unfortunate truth: Trump and his radicals now represent Republican values

In 2010, the then conservative Canadian-American commentator David Frum feared that the conservative Tea Party movement would radicalize the Republican party, which would bring it short-term gain but long-term loss. Two years later, after some unconventional Tea Party candidates had defeated establishment Republicans in name only" in primaries to then lose in the general elections - like Christine I'm not a witch" O'Donnell in Delaware or Richard God intended your rape child" Mourdock in Indiana - the Republican establishment successfully blamed the Tea Party movement for the party's electoral defeats and regained control, albeit, as it turned out in 2015, for just a few years.

Recently, some commentators have argued that radical outsiders once again endanger Republican success in the midterms. While this might be the case, don't expect this to seriously change the far-right direction of the party.

Cas Mudde is a Guardian US columnist and the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor in the school of public and international affairs at the University of Georgia