@Wherrsmaclickypen
The UK and US contrasts are worth making, especially around 'personality' based politics. It's been implicit here that "the party" and manifesto policies are bigger than any individual and that the state apparatus, here the Civil Service, executes under the political will/direction of the governing party of the day from Westminster. As such Boris can be a complete arse but there is no suggestion of absolute power - you know the 22 committee or other groups are busy continuing to plot the success of the Party, not an individual, and he will be manoeuvred out if and when expedient.(possibly quite soon). It's a degree of self-regulation albeit somewhat Machiavellian. That's what feels terrifyingly missing here. I cannot fathom how and why senior Republicans are allowing these rabid witterings and that jawdropping post- election press conference to happen unless they are letting Trump hang himself. His conduct is a national embarrassment and brings the Office into disrepute, yet all the coverage is about who is being sent into the rabid lion's den, one by one, dangling a juicy steak in order to reason with him.....where are the crack team of marksmen with tranquilliser darts? I get that the Party is dependent on the support of Trumpians, and presumably need them to secure the Senate via the Michigan campaign but are they really proposing indulging Trump's behaviour until January?
The problem is that Trump has really taken over the base of the party, and they're all scared that they're going to get primaried.
Rather than the party choosing local candidates, or at least having a heavy hand in it as they do in the UK, pretty much any candidate can stand in the Republican (or Democratic) primary. This means that the party is very susceptible to attacks from the farther wings of the party.
Now, the local party can do what they want in trying to shout that person down and to pick a centrist/party-approved candidate. But if Donald Trump weighs in and endorses the outside candidate, that outside candidate could easily win the primary.
In Congressional elections, where districts are often very partisan, that means these people have a seat in Congress--like the QAnon supporter from Georgia, for instance. There, the Republicans have to deal with them.
But in state elections, it can have consequences too, with the party losing the votes of moderates who either vote for the other side or stay home. Extreme candidates tend not to do well on a statewide level, even in quite partisan states.
So the GOP as a whole is worried that Trump will undercut them in various districts, states, etc. But more importantly, individual GOP officials are very worried that Trump will undercut them specifically in their next race--that, for instance, he would endorse a Republican challenger who would win in the primary and turf them out of office.
This is why Jeff Flake said that if you had a secret ballot for impeachment, you would have gotten 35 Republican senators to co-sign: they were just afraid to do it publicly.