They saw it:
This is an excerpt from an article written about the same time:
This points to a reason why firm Republican control of the House has a downside. That control results largely from gerrymandering—the redistricting after the 2010 census gave the GOP many safe seats where the Republican was virtually guaranteed to win. With the nominating process heavily controlled by very conservative Tea Party members, the Republican class elected in 2010 is very ideological and unwilling to compromise on anything.
Former Republican Congressman Ray LaHood recently commented on the constraints that these members impose on the party’s leadership. Said LaHood in an interview with the Washington Post: “[There is] a small group, maybe 30, 40 in the House, who have come here to do nothing — and that’s what they’ve done. They’ve done nothing. They’ve accomplished nothing. . . . They didn’t come here to vote for solutions. They came here to do nothing, and they stand in the way of the president and his agenda.”
That would account for the entire party today.
Bartlett thought they would lose in 2016 and it would force a reckoning on race and inclusion because the big donors would balk. And then long came Trump and he squeaked out an electoral college victory showing how it could be done without any of that.
Bartlett didn’t fully understand the lengths they would be willing to go to hold power at all costs. Like sack the capitol and call for Mike Pence to be hanged because he refused to try to overturn the election.
Or pass laws all over the country to make it difficult for everyone to vote — even their own voters. They are openly contemptuous of democracy now. And the idea that they are interested in reforms just seems quaint.