David Duke’s nomination exposed Republican tolerance for authoritarian extremism

Evidence

Is it a coincidence that the Louisiana Republican Party came under strong pressure from the national party to “moderate itself” after America’s most famous onetime Nazi, David Duke, won the GOP gubernatorial nomination and very nearly the governorship itself? — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 4453

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Relevant to the immodesty/political-signaling theme: the GOP’s response to Duke was reputational, collective damage control, not principled rejection — the party’s baseline ideology tolerated him until it became an electoral liability.