President Trump has consistently followed a fascist / authoritarian playbook in trying to run the country. I do NOT believe Trump is a fascist, I think he is an authoritarian businessman who is trying to run the country like his business. It just happens that when you run the country like it is your private company, you try to be dictatorial. So, I don't blame Trump for trying - I blame the Republicans and Congress for enabling him.
His constant squawking about "Fake News" has convinced some large sub-set of the country (and a majority of his voters / Republicans) that the news media cannot be trusted. Social media has reinforced this. Distrust / disbelief in the media is not healthy for a functional electorate.
In Russia, China, the media is controlled and not trusted. The entire populace lives by rumor and guesses. Why are we allowing this?
What is extra new and different - and threatens our country, is the support given to the President by the Republican Congress. It is frightening. Writing a memo based on cherry picked classified data, then releasing it using a never-before used legal maneuver, as the Republican chairman is doing - is not worthy of the USA. The "memo" was voted to be released that twists facts to undermine a valid investigation of the President. This is not worthy of our country. It was created by the staff of a Congressman who told us all he had to recuse himself for misdeeds in this same investigation.
To make all of these machinations succeed, the Republican establishment is trashing the FBI, the Justice Department and the CIA. 22% of Republicans and 13% of independents have changed their views of the FBI and Justice department from positive to negative in the past few months.
Putting a single leader above the government is not "Democracy". It is not worthy of the country. There are plenty of precedences for this, but none from the United States. Not every previous person is a Hitler. But often they are a Perón, a Chavez, a Mugambee, a Papa Doc or a Mussolini - IF they are successful. If they are unsuccessful, they are a failed dictator leaving a destroyed system in their wake.
Most Republicans know this. That Ryan, McConnell and so many others sit back and let this happen is not worthy of the party or the country.
However, the answer is as clear as Steve Coyne's explanation of how sales men work, people do what you pay them to do. The huge donations to the Republican (and Democratic) party are from very rich people or corporations that benefit from have single party power and delivering huge tax breaks. So while it is not worthy of America or the party, it is very honest of capitalism. When this happened before - capitalism twisting democracy, it was those very same Republicans that stopped it. Today, they seem to be enabling it.