There are strong arguments for that explanation. But while it started perhaps started that way, and may continue in the minds of some voters, I feel like Republicans often go over the top with their rhetoric and can't easily walk it back without backlash from their supporters (who cloak themselves in being "principled.") (Think of how calling someone "Hitler" in a debate more or less shuts down the possibility of working with that opponent in the future because doing so would be working with Hitler.) So, Obama get elected, they hem and haw about how awful the Affordable Care Act is (think "Death Panels" among others) so that when it's law, there's no compromising because to compromise would be to assist DEATH PANELS and, derr, "killin' our jerbs"! Run this "say no to and demonize everything" experiment for 10 years with an echo-chamber right-wing media complex feeding the beast, and we get to what we have today - an authoritarian candidate who often says explicity or implies that he holds the same beliefs as many of his bigoted supporters.