- It is possible that Trump changed the Republican Party just forever, by turning the “Lincoln Party” into the Paranoid Racist Internet troll party.
- Trump’s embrace of far-right franc candidates and the QAnon conspiracy theory is horrific, but predictable.
- Congressional Republicans who refuse to stand up for themselves are a complete surrender to all the ideals they claim to stand for. They are not conservatives now, they are Trump cultists.
- It’s not a very high bar that Republicans need to reach to make sure their party is not known for completely indecent idiots. They can and should reject these people and ideas.
- This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
- Visit the Business Insider website for more stories.
There are only six months left in Donald Trump’s presidency. I find it honest to say that the bureau will not change him.
But it is possible that he changed the Republican Party just forever.
In praise of supporters of the destroyed QAnon conspiracy theory – as well as publicly endorsing two outspoken greats who won their nominations to represent the Republican Party in the November congressional election – Trump has officially scumbagged the GOP party made.
The Party of Lincoln InfoWars
Mainstream Republicans have held their noses for the past four years during Trump’s most embarrassing tantrums, rage storms and racist blurts. They solemnly swung their pride and surrendered their stake. By doing so, they have allowed the rot at the edge of the right to sink further and further into the core of the party.
Trump’s latest trifecta simply puts the stamp of approval on the rot.
Marjorie Green won the Republican primary in Georgia’s 14th Congress district last week. It is a deep red light district, and it is widely expected that they will be elected to Congress.
Greene is a 9/11 supporter of Truther and QAnon who posed for a photo with former Ku Klux Klan leader Charles Doles to help advertise his political group. When asked about the apparent encouragement, Greene said the question was “stupid and the same type of sleazy attacks the Fake News Media levels against President Trump.”
She wrote in 2018 that “Saudi Arabia, Rothschild and Soros are the puppet masters who are financing this Global Evil” – referring to the fictional global pedophile ring that is central to the QAnon collusion theory. In 2019, she roamed the halls of the Capitol in search of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib – the first Muslim-friendly women elected to Congress – to bathe her to swear her oath on the Bible instead of the Koran.
On the Facebook page of her own campaign, she speculated that “possession of the demon” and “intelligence of military-grade weapons such as Voice of God technology developed” could be to blame for school leaders. They also implied that some schoolboys could be gay, according to Jewish Insider. During her victory speech last week, Greene said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “is a hypocrite, she’s anti-American, and we’re going to kick that b —- out of Congress.”
Trump congratulates Greene as a “future Republican star” who is “strong on everything and never gives up – a real WINNER!” House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy also made it clear that Greene is welcome in the COP of House GOP and will be assigned seats on committees.
Self described “proud IslamophobeLaura Loomer – who has cheered on the deaths of migrants and called Muslims “savages” – won the Republican primary in Florida’s 21st Congressional District. It is a strong Democratic district, and the seat is almost certainly not in danger of being won by Loomer .
Although she is known in alt-right and ultra-nationalist internet frameworks, the 27-year-old Loomer is basically a B-list exhibition role in the Milo Yiannopoulos mold. She’s just as great at Milo in banning any platform on social media, and also by Uber and Lyft for harassing Muslim drivers – but is unable to even be arrested if they blatantly transgress.
So embarrassed are her antics that she herself was banned by the Trump cult-or-personality festival CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference).
But instead of ignoring these marginal far-right artists for internet performance, Trump voted her: “Great going Laura. You have a great chance against a Pelosi puppet!” Several GOP congressmen also expressed their support for Loomer.
And on Wednesday, Trump responded to a question about QAnon by calling her “people who love our country” and who “love me very much, which I appreciate.”
The FBI has called QAnon a domestic terrorist threat, and Facebook has banned hundreds of QAnon accounts for alleged attempts to commit violence.
Each of these distinctions is a presidential seal of approval for an Internet culture riddled with racism, open calls for violence, and a belief that our “culture war” is just the beginning of an upcoming civil war.
More consistently, Trump has stamped the same toxic culture on the Republican Party itself. That’s how it works, the president is the head of the party for the time they are in office.
But the president is not the king, not even of her party.
This should not be difficult if you have a back
Every Republican lawmaker in Congress must decide if losing a seat is too high a price to pay for having principles.
This is not a partisan issue. This can not be blamed on antifa or the “SJW snowflakes.” This is an easy call.
Prominent conservative commentators as Rich Lowry and Ben Shapiro expressed their disgust at Trump’s embrace of QAnon. Former Bush adviser Karl Rove called on Trump to deny QAnon’s nuts and cooks.
If the partisan commentary shrinks from embarrassment, it should be an indication to Joe Q. Republican that they could survive to stretch themselves to ensure that they and their political ideals are not associated with racists, bigots and sadistic liars who ‘ t try to stimulate a civil war.
But GOP legislators have, with rare exceptions, been quietly or silently supportive.
Kevin McCarthy streaked the racist rep. Steve King of his mandates in 2019. After setting the precedent that bigotry ranks is not acceptable in the Republican caucus, there is no justification for putting Greene on commissions.
Republicans once boasted of the “Lincoln Party” or the “Enterprise Party,” as the “Limited Government Party.” Failure of racist paranoid internet trolls who carry the impression of their party – even if it means defending the president – is forever surrendering to one of the principles on which the party once stood.
When former faction leader Linda Sarsour of the women – who is accused of believing in anti-Semitism – appeared as a guest of Muslim delegates on a video call during the DNC this week, the campaign of former deputy President Joe Biden condemned Sarsour quickly and reiterated that she has nothing to do with the Biden campaign. There’s no reason GOP leaders cannot clean their own backyards either.
It’s not a very high bar that Republicans need to reach to make sure their party is not known for completely indecent idiots. They can and should reject these people and ideas.
Sure, fighting Trump invites the chance for compensation, but if you can not stop this, you can not stand up for nothing.
