Why are Republicans/Conservatives embracing fanaticalism these days?
America has always rejected fanaticism, especially since WWII. We are supposed to be E pluribus unum -- out of many, ONE. Now, the right wants America to be E unum pluribus -- out of ONE, many.
I think it's important to question the idea that the US has "always rejected fanaticism". Sure, our state doesn't want to be viewed that way. I just think that looking at our history shows a lot of fanatic shit, from the way settlers treated the native population, to all of our conflicts in the 1900's to now.
Hell, in the inter-war period, mainstream America was even generally pretty comfortable with...uh...if not actual fascism, at least things that looked and sounded a lot like fascism.