Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>As the most pro-Trump state in the nation, Wyoming seems like an unlikely place for a Republican civil war. For more than a decade, though, its political class has been embroiled in a fierce battle over the state party and government. This class isn’t divided over ideology; it’s divided over what politics is: While the old establishment believes politics should be fundamentally about governance and solving local problems, the new MAGA insurgents think it should be about expressing an identity rooted in class and place—and oriented around national causes and leaders. Much like the social justice left, Wyoming’s new right has even nurtured a cancel culture as unforgiving as its progressive rival. What’s more, these new insurgents often don’t have college degrees, which shows that the diploma divide isn’t just driving a wedge between red and blue America—it’s also pulling the GOP apart. The resurgence of intra-party conflict—long the norm in American politics—is itself driven by polarization; as states and localities have become more politically homogeneous, they are beginning to fracture. These factional conflicts deserve more scrutiny from political scientists, particularly since they have been a critical engine of political change in American politics. Perhaps most surprisingly the ultimate outcome of Wyoming’s civil war isn’t settled. While the old establishment is embattled and losing ground, it is also countermobilizing, sometimes even taking turf it had lost. And if the new conservative politics of identity can be checked in Wyoming, it can be contained anywhere.</jats:p>