I grew up in Michigan during a time when dynastic families like the DeVoses and the Romneys poured money and manpower into the state’s Republican party, building it into one of the most vaunted political operations in the country.

Andy Kroll, a Michigander & ProPublica reporter covering democracy

But in the last several years, I've watched as thousands of political newcomers declared war on the Republican establishment. Calling themselves the “America First” movement, these unknowns disparaged prominent Michigan Republicans as “globalist” elites who belonged to a corrupt “uniparty” cabal. That cabal had denied Trump a rightful second term and needed to be purged from the party.

With a consequential election looming, I traveled back to my home state to understand how this all happened. I sought out the activists waging this struggle, a group of people who don’t trust institutions or individuals except Trump and one another — and sometimes not even that. Could they triumph over the elites? I found chaos, incompetence, strife, a glimpse of a future post-Trump Republican Party and, all around me, danger for our system of government and the state of the country.