In this morning’s news clips, you might have noticed a bunch of stories on how the Republican Party may actually be getting *worse* – Trumpier, more extreme, etc. – since Trump left office. For instance, see The GOP Is a Grave Threat to American Democracy (“Unless and until Republicans summon the wit and the will to salvage the party, ruin will follow”); The Republican Party Has a Deep Crazy Problem; The Trump Republican circus gears up for another tour; Beer, Brussels Sprouts, Bernie Madoff and Today’s G.O.P.; Yes, it’s possible the GOP is worse post-Trump (“Republicans repeatedly show they stand outside decent society”); etc. Also, check out articles like The Trumpiest Republicans Are At The State And Local Levels — Not In D.C.; ‘It’s endemic’: state-level Republican groups lead party’s drift to extremism; The national GOP is broken. State GOPs might be even worse.; etc.
An example of this phenomenon took place here in Virginia this past Saturday, when HD07 Republicans nominated Marie March – “unashamed Christian, small business owner, proven job creator, rock-solid conservative, and Trump Republican” who attended the 1/6/21 Trump rally in D.C. (although she does stress that she didn’t go to the US Capitol) over two more conventional, albeit conservative, Republicans. Also note that the race was to succeed a very conservative Republican delegate, Nick Rush, who is retiring, and that this is a VERY “red” district, in which neo-Confederate Corey Stewart beat Tim Kaine by 20 points in 2018. That’s telling in and of itself, of course. With all that in mind, check out the audio, below, from yesterday’s John Fredericks Show, where March talks about her victory and what she plans to do in Richmond (in short, she is NOT aiming to get along/go along, but to be “anti-establishment” and fight the “RINOs”…very broadly defined). But first, listen to Trump’s former Virginia Chair John Fredericks trashing the Virginia House GOP leadership, as March laughs appreciatively…
“All the establishment, the never-Trumpers, the RINOs, Todd Gilbert, the whole bunch of them, the do-nothing Republicans in the House [of Delegates], Garren Shipley that works about 1 1/2 hours a week…these people do nothing…I’ve never seen a minority leadership worse than what we’ve got right in the House of Delegates in Virginia. They put a press release every two weeks…They do nothing, so they back Sherry Blevins…that’s their candidate…and you beat her 2:1…that’s the way to do it!”
So…yeah, that snippet kind of epitomizes the intra-GOP civil war right now, in which even hard-right conservatives like Virginia House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert (R) are attacked as “Republicans in Name Only,” apparently because they’re not even *more* extreme than they already are. It’s truly horrifying to see one of two major American political parties go further and further into the fever swamps, but here we are, sad to say.
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