From ‘Severe’ Conservatives to ‘Liberal’ Republicans

FiveThirtyEight: “In 2004, Pennsylvania Rep. Patrick Toomey was the face of the conservative insurgency. An anti-taxes, anti-spending hawk, Toomey was one of many conservative upstarts who primaried a more moderate fellow Republican.”

“Sen. Mitt Romney called himself ‘severely conservative’ during his 2012 presidential bid and planned to repeal the Affordable Care Act.”

“Toomey, Romney and now-ousted GOP party leader Rep. Liz Cheney have not abandoned the policy views that a decade ago flagged them as conservatives. But in the interim, Trump and his presidency may have shifted the ideological ground beneath their feet.”