This week marks the unofficial kick off of the midterm election season. A look at the slate of G.O.P candidates for the house, senate and governorships reveals the so-called Trump wing of the party is not going anywhere.

Several likely winners in  red-leaning districts have embraced the extreme elements of Trumpism, taking positions that were once thought to be on the fringe and trafficking in conspiracy theories. This includes vocal support for the Capitol rioters and vows to relitigate the 2020 election.

David Corn is a veteran reporter who has watched the evolution of politics in Washington for decades. In a new book he argues the extremism that led to January 6^th goes back at least 70 years to Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his high profile hunt for alleged Communists inside the State Department, the White House, the Treasury, and even the US Army.

Corn outlines a series of deliberate choices by the Republican Party between the 1950s and today that he says nurtured and exploited fear and loathing, and capitalized on misinformation and political paranoia until it became a central tenet of the party. His book is titled “American Psychosis.”