Good Republicans Are Needed
There Is Little Time Left
The only way this country will survive is if Democrats and Republicans cooperate to change the course of a democracy that seems headed for Armageddon. And that will only happen if the Republican Party regains credibility and stops supporting the traitors, liars, opportunists and others in their party who continue to incite violence and mistrust with the government.
Being Republican was once an honorable place for those who believed in conservatism, smaller government and less government interference, large support for the private sector and economic libertarianism. Those are ideals that are legitimately up for debate between well-meaning Republicans and Democrats. I even know some Republicans who are smart and even, nice people. But these honorable souls are being crowded out by the cast of dangerous clowns who are seen as flag bearers of the Grand Old Party. The Republicans who are to be trusted must repudiate the nut fringe wing or by their silence, they will be part of the enemy.
Richard L. Hasen, the author of several books about elections and democracy, wrote in an op-ed in the N.Y. Times that Democrats must keep in mind a series of principles in their efforts to reinforce democratic institutions and the rule of law.
Hasen said that Democrats cannot do it alone and should seek Republican partners, even if they are acting in self-interest and do not broadly support the full, Democratic agenda. Coalitions are vital with those few Republicans who are willing to stand up for the rule of law. Hasen wrote that “all sectors of society need to be mobilized in support of free and fair elections,” including business groups, civic and professional organizations, labor unions and religious organizations. And finally, it may be necessary for mass, peaceful organizing and protests by those who oppose the increasing tilt to authoritarian rule.
I understand how hard it is for an ethical Republican official to speak in the face of the daily onslaughts by the so-called GOP message, but time is running out.
On Thursday, the first anniversary of the attempted insurrection at the Capitol by trump supporters, Rep. Matt Goetz, R-Fla., who is under investigation for sex trafficking, and Rep. Marjorie Taylore Greene, R-Ga., banned from Twitter for repeatedly tweeting dangerous lies about COVID-19, held a “news conference,” (unsubstantiated rant), to provide the nation with the “Republican voice” regarding the insurrection.
“We did not want the Republican voice to go unheard, and we did not want today’s historical narrative to be hijacked by those who were the true insurrectionists,” Gaetz said,
Greene stood with the mother of Ashli Babbit, one of the insurgents shot and killed by police after she broke a window and tried to enter a room in the Capitol that led to the Senate chambers. Greene and Gaetz said Jan. 6 was a “fed-surrection,” a plot perpetrated by the FBI.
At least 163 Republicans who back trump’s “big lie,” claims about election fraud, are running to become senators, governors or other statewide officials.
There is more, much more.
Tucker Carlson, whose Fox News show is watched by millions, mocked Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for describing the Jan. 6 event as a “violent terrorist attack.”
House Chaplain Margaret Kibben led Democrats in prayer, “On this anniversary of national discord and despair, send your healing spirit among us and tend to the dispiritedness and disagreement here within and around the people’s house.” Former Vice President Pence was nowhere to be seen as he refused to participate in any of the Democrats’ solemn events commemorating the uprising. Fox headlined their news segment with trump’s absurd lie-filled response to Biden’s sharp criticism of the former president for fomenting the uprising and failing to act to stem the violence.
And Fox reported that CBS News buried poll results showing strong bipartisan agreement that Jan. 6 was “a protest that went too far.” Translate that into the Fox position that jan. 6 wasn’t an uprising but a “protest.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R- Ky., faced with a crisis of morality, took the low road when he said, “It has been stunning to see some Washington Democrats try to exploit this anniversary to advance partisan policy goals that long predated this event.”
McConnell had plenty of company on the low, ethical road. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., chair of the House Republican Conference, condemned the Jan. 6 violence as she has “consistently stressed that there is no place in our country for violence in politics on either side.” Excuse me but maybe I just didn’t see all those Biden banners at the insurrection.
Stefanik faced the crisis of Jan. 6 unequivocally and without a hint of politics, when she said that “the damage created by less than one year of total Democrat control in Washington is staggering and is devastating hardworking families across America.”
Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., tweeted on Thursday, not about the Jan. 6 attacks but moaned that it was the “1 year anniversary of voter fraud debate in Congress.” Brooks was the first speaker at the Jan. 6, pro-trump rally, repeating the lies of voter fraud, that led to the insurrection. He also famously read a passage from Adolf Hitler’s 1925 autobiography “Mein Kampf” on the House floor, comparing the Democratic Party and the media to the Nazi Party.
The great Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a South Carolina Republican and key Trump ally, fulminated about the shock and dismay and shock and dismay that he felt that the rioters were able to enter the legislative building last year. Graham had these comforting words following President Biden’s sobering address to the nation about the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“What brazen politicization of January 6 by President Biden,” tweeted Graham, who made no mention of trump’s seminal role in the uprising. “I wonder if the Taliban who now rule Afghanistan with al-Qaeda elements present, contrary to President Biden’s beliefs, are allowing this speech to be carried?” Is there a reality check in the house?