Dangerous Liars
I want to be clear from the jump: there is no “both sides” argument to be made. There is no “but Democrats…” take to be had. There are plenty of issues I have with the more progressive side of the aisle and we can discuss them some other day. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING they do comes close to what we’ve seen from the Republican Party over the last 5 years. It’s not even close. And if the only way you can defend or explain what your party does is by throwing mud at the other, you’ve already lost the argument.
Where should we even start? Ah yes, the end of Democracy.
Let’s be ABSOLUTELY clear about what happened on January 6th, 2021. A large group of Republican supporters attempted (and succeeded) to storm the Capitol with the intent of stopping a free and fair election from being certified (they failed at that aspect). That’s it. They weren’t tourists. They weren’t ANTIFA. They were mostly white MAGA-ites who had been riled up and encouraged to inflict violence all morning by a number of members of Congress and other Republican talking heads.
There can be no debate about what happened that day. Courts have found participants guilty of that exact crime. People, guilty people, are in jail right now for the violence they perpetrated that day. Are they completely to blame for what happened? Nope. They thought, and many of them have testified as such, that President Trump had ordered them to do what they did. This is not me saying it. It’s them saying it. Many people who were inside the Capitol even said as much. And I can see why.
There was no question that the election was free and fair from the day it began. There has never been any evidence presented that contradicts this. There is absolutely zero truth that any widespread fraud took place. Republican election officials have said as much. Trump’s own administration said as much. And yet, he and his deluded followers cling to the idea that he won the election. He didn’t. In fact, from the day the election took place, Trump and his allies tried to stop democracy from taking place. Again, this is an indisputable reality.
How do we know with so much certainty that was their goal all along? Because of the text messages and communications passed between Republican operatives from the day of the election through the insurrection. Before the election was even called in favor of Joe Biden, Trump Junior was texting people trying to lay down the groundwork for what would become their false election claims. Here is what CNN reported:
Immediately before his text to Meadows describing multiple paths for challenging the election, Trump Jr. texted Meadows the following: "This is what we need to do please read it and please get it to everyone that needs to see it because I'm not sure we're doing it."
The November 5 text message outlines a strategy that is nearly identical to what allies of the former President attempted to carry out in the months that followed. Trump Jr. makes specific reference to filing lawsuits and advocating recounts to prevent certain swing states from certifying their results, as well as having a handful of Republican state houses put forward slates of fake "Trump electors.”
If all that failed, according to the Trump Jr. text, GOP lawmakers in Congress could simply vote to reinstall Trump as President on January 6. "We have operational control Total leverage," the message reads. "Moral High Ground POTUS must start 2nd term now."
It is clear from these texts, among others, that Republicans were not interested in who actually won the election but rather how they could ensure their candidate remained in office, regardless of the outcome. Remember, nothing had been decided at this point. The votes were still being counted and yet here you have several members of Trump’s cabal communicating with Republican congressmen to see what could be done. Take Senator Mike Lee from Utah and what he was up to.
These were not people who were concerned about the fairness of an election. These were people desperate to come up with anything, literally anything, to say in order to keep Trump in power. This is not how a democracy works. This is how a dictator behaves. This is what the Republican Party would like to have: no more democracy, only their unchallenged rule and unlimited power.
We need to look no further than what Republican leadership was doing and saying at the time of the insurrection to find out who is responsible for it. In a phone call with other Republicans on January 11th, less than a week after the insurrection, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy put the blame squarely on Trump. He even offered that Trump HIMSELF said he was responsible for it!
Not only that but the day before the audio above, McCarthy wondered if there was a way to REMOVE Trump from office via the 25th Amendment. It is clear from what he says that he acknowledges the danger that Trump and his cabal posed to democracy and America in general. He was even speculating that he would tell Trump that he would be impeached and removed from office and that Trump should resign to save face. Not exactly the thinking of a guy who believes in Dear Leader.
McCarthy, Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, and others weren’t alone in their assessment that Trump was responsible for the insurrection. The Republican leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell even said as much when he addressed Congress two weeks later:
But when it became clear that there was no appetite from Republicans in Congress to actually do the right thing and hold Trump responsible, McCarthy, McConnell, and the others slinked back to their master and did all they could to prevent Americans from finding out the truth.
Gee, I wonder why? What were they so afraid of? I’ll give you hint: it has nothing to do with Donnie.
Republicans aren’t swayed by Trump's brilliant diplomacy or negotiating. They’re afraid of his base. You know them. They’re the people who violently attacked the Capitol, beat up cops, and chanted “Hang Mike Pence”. I’d be pretty scared of them too! Look at how they’ve reacted to minor things like having to wear a mask in public or teachers educating kids about slavery. They’re violent, they’re armed, and they don’t mind breaking the law. Heck, a group of them plotted to kidnap the governor of Michigan! They were going to find her guilty in a bullshit trial and execute her! This is who the Republican Party is. And if you consider yourself a Republican, these are your people. You have to own them.
As Elie Mystal pointed out in the clip above, we have to stop treating these people like they are some weirdo fringe element of the party. If they were, mainstream Republicans would have denounced them. But they can’t. Why? Because they need their votes. Conservative ideology is so deeply unpopular in the United States that the only way the GOP holds onto any position of power is by courting the absolute worst our society has to offer. It’s why they speak at white supremacist rallies (hi, MTG) and call people chanting “Jews will not replace us” very fine people. Also, gerrymandering.
We know what mainstream Republicans think about these people. They’ve made that very clear anytime a recording gets leaked. But they are powerless to turn against them or even call them out for what they are: anti-democratic racists. To do so would be too “woke” and being “woke” is asking for political death with these people. None of this is new. Republicans have dog whistled racists since the Civil Rights Act was passed. It’s why such a dramatic shift in party alliance happens like this:
Republicans made this mess and it is theirs to clean up. They won’t though, because they are lying hypocrites who only care about power. That’s it. They tried to overthrow democracy and they will do it again. Only a handful of Republicans have been “brave” enough to speak out against Trump and most of them are retiring or have no chance at re-election. This is not an opinion. It is a fact. The leaders of the party know how dangerous Trump and his followers are yet they continue to suborn them for their votes in exchange for being able to do the worst stuff imaginable. Just look at what’s happening in Florida.
If you care about America, if you believe in democracy, then you must turn away from this party. They are dangerous liars who will seemingly stop at nothing to maintain power. They are the worst of us. And they have no place in our government.