One reason the ‘weird’ attacks during the 2024 were so effective* is that it helped people realize that the Republican Right is not wired like other people. I don’t just mean that in terms of policy, but in, well, weird beliefs like empathy** is bad.

Which brings us to a piece Paul Waldman wrote about the reasons for the Republican assault on higher education (boldface mine):

Finally, and most critically, this is about control. No Republican alive has felt the kind of intoxicating surge of power they are experiencing right now, not because of the size of their 2024 electoral victory but because they have collectively decided that with sufficient aggression and creativity, they can go after just about every individual or institution that ever pissed them off. Even as they set about destroying the federal government, they are expanding its power to harass and intimidate their enemies wherever they may be found.

A large subset of them like hurting certain people. Insofar as it restores what they consider to be the correct order of things, it gives them meaning.

They are very weird–in a very bad way.

*And why it was political malpractice to stop making them.

**I would argue, technically, what often is being referred to is sympathy, not empathy.