This piece helped me understand why I’ve become so interested in studying the right, even though I don’t identify as a conservative. It’s because, for better or worse, the fate of our democracy heavily depends on the choices the center-right makes.
The vast majority of the center right went for Trump in 2016. Those on the right who resisted Trump generally did so because they rightly saw him as an authoritarian threat to our political system. 
The other reason why the center right matters is because the right in general is moving even further right into actual white nationalist & fascist territory. Only the center-right can serve as a guardrail to prevent the GOP from further radicalizing.
There's plenty that those on the left & center-left can do to preserve American democracy. They can organize & vote, most obviously. But given the institutional structure of our federal republic, it's unlikely that the GOP will disappear anytime soon. Hence, who they are matters.
I listen to a good number of conservative and center-right podcasts, and I have to say that the thing that frightens me the most is the hysterical tone in which they talk about Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
If center-right voices like the Bulwark and the Never Trump conservatives on the NYTimes and WaPo editorial page convince themselves and their audience (no matter how relatively small) not to vote for Warren or Sanders, then they make a Trump victory much more likely.
I get that these center-right folks, who no longer have a home in the GOP, are trying to influence the Democratic primary...but most Democrats could care less what these folks think about who the D nominee should be.
The damage they could do is lending center-right credence to the far right narrative that somehow Warren or Sanders is just the "left wing version of Trump." That's BS and they know it. But if enough center-right voters come to believe it, it'll help Trump win.
Perhaps even more importantly, if a big chunk of the donor class decides to align themselves with the center-right against a Warren or Sanders presidency (and implicitly for a Trump GOP ascendency), then we're just reenacting the oldest story in the 20th century political book.
And that old story is that when given a choice between a more leftist variant of democracy and a pro-business variant of authoritarian right wing populism (i.e., fascism)...the business class will usually choose the latter, with ultimately terrible consequences for the country.
