It's inaccurate to say the GOP are Cowards. They voted for the Dark Money which paid for Trump

Period

successfully being distracted from how damn criminal they are.

as you say, they fear losing the money.

scenes. It’s not just Putin, the US has its own cabal of amoral oligarchs.

The money is a symptom.
They are so petrified of losing their precious job that morals & principles become irrelevant.
What you're describing may indeed be true, but cowardice is still the root cause.

They are pragmatically responding to the quiet and not so quiet orders from behind the scenes which tell them when and what to vote for. They are largely driven by the idea that election grants them power to ignore moral and legal reason, they are craven in public because it suits their cover story.

What they are NOT is capable of independent thought. They fear being called out alone, but within the GOP herd they know which way the wind blows and assiduously trim their sails to cooperate with it. They were recruited to their seats BECAUSE they will do what the money demands. Tom Delay understood that, as did Newt Gingrich, as does Mitch McConnell.

So I must disagree that they are only cowards. They are far worse than that. They knowingly defy the truth if it suits their masters. They did it in the first impeachment and now again. They bow to the money first, last, and always. The sheer amount of it is stunning even to an oil sheik.

IMO if they were only cowards many of them wouldn't have returned to complete the count on the 6th. They would have insisted on delaying it for their own safety.

Seems like weak sauce.
This strategy you describe cost them the House in '18, the Senate and the White House in '20.
There is no assurances that '16 will ever be repeated so the mysterious dark money bogeyman you reference are likely to be less willing to throw good money after bad.
Tr--p's approval rating among republicans went from 94% before the election to 76% on inauguration day.
These people are scared of being primaries and the strategists see much of that as a potential sacrificed seat the Dems will grab.
Independents tend not to like extremists. That's why the socialism tag worked in some districts. Socialism sounds extremist. (Doesn't matter for thus discussion whether it really is, or not.)
Rs only represent 25% of regular voters. They lose the independents, they lose!
Most of the big money people know this. Continue to fund the crazy train helps to assume wasted money.
There's no benefit to wasting the money. So, your bogeyman theory can't support it's own weight.
These people are so addicted to the rush of power that they can't envision losing that position. Those in red districts fear primary challenges more than the GE. But, it's still fear that drives them away from principle.
In fact, whether we dispose of your dark money strawman or not, you are actually supporting the contention they are cowards.
Not sure how you don't see that.

GOP but they steer much of the GOP decision making. The Mercers and Koch organizations are the most visible but they are far from the only ones. Even Putin doesn't make all the rules. They are most certainly not made of straw.

The effect of the money is that Trump had over 200 federal judges available to appoint. That is the kind of power the GOP craves to its bones. The Money and the Conservative wing of the GOP have been working up to this point for nearly 40 years through a thorough and well planned exploitation of the party. The Money is persistent and will do anything that permits their push to own and exploit the planet while hobbling legal structures and institutions. My point is that the GOP do not only operate from fear and are beholden to powerful forces that are outside Trump's discretion. Those same forces are pushing to eliminate 2 party government even as we debate.

The GOP do not value law or the Constitution as we do. Some of them think not enough bad happened on Jan 6th. Some of them are waiting for the next step, or event, or opportunity and have reasons to think there is more to come. My point is that some of the GOP voted to acquit because that's the next step in obscuring the rule of law. Those GOP members aren't afraid, they are dangerously bold.

My point is that many GOP do not feel bound by the same sense of truth, the same value of justice that we do, which at least 7 of their fellow GOP senators voted to support. In the minds of those I speak of politics is a game for winners only, and that suits the Dark money just fine.