It's two things:
1. They've woken up to the fact that a lot of these so-called purple states are not just big blue city with a large population able to wrestle control away from a rural red population, but that these cities hide vast political fraud machines that are now expanding to other counties in the state.
This is not without precedent at all.
2. Trump has definitely ushered in a new zeitgeist among the Republican party. No more "let's get along" shit. The Democrats' talk of unity is only talk of surrender and obedience. Either you win elections, or the Democrat political machine infiltrates deeper. Direct Appointment of Electors would normally be utterly unthinkable to Republicans, but the fact it's even being discussed is huge.