The escalation of GOP culture wars

In states like Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Arizona, Trump-aligned Republicans have won primaries using cultural issues like abortion and immigration. Many target school boards, where MAGA activists can hide their extreme agenda.

In his 2016 book on U.S. political culture wars, Illinois State historian Andrew Hartman wrote that the “logic of the culture wars [of the 1980s and 1990s] has been exhausted.”

Of course, that was before Donald Trump injected them back into public life, using issues like abortion, immigration, and so-called…