Before I present some “highlights” (ok, they’re actually lowlights) of Virginia Republicans’ reactions to the Democratic presidential debate last night, I strongly recommend that you check out What Happened to America’s Political Center of Gravity?, which explains:
The Republican Party leans much farther right than most traditional conservative parties in Western Europe and Canada, according to an analysis of their election manifestos. It is more extreme than Britain’s Independence Party and France’s National Rally (formerly the National Front), which some consider far-right populist parties. The Democratic Party, in contrast, is positioned closer to mainstream liberal parties.
[…]
According to its 2016 manifesto, the Republican Party lies far from the Conservative Party in Britain and the Christian Democratic Union in Germany — mainstream right-leaning parties — and closer to far-right parties like Alternative for Germany, whose platform contains plainly xenophobic, anti-Muslim statements.
So yeah, let’s just keep that in mind at all times – with today’s Republican Party, we are *not* dealing with a normal political party, but a nativist, white nationalist, “insurgent outlier” that – as “The Republican Devolution” explains, “There is one overriding culprit behind the failure of the U.S. political system: the Republican Party…Over the last two and a half decades, the GOP has mutated from a traditional conservative party into an insurgent force that threatens the norms and institutions of American democracy.”
And that is certainly true here in Virginia, where the party is basically a bunch of anti-LGBT, anti-immigrant, neo-Confederate, gun-crazy, anti-government, anti-environment, anti-science, anti-reproductive-freedom, anti-ERA, anti-rule-of-law, anti-democracy, reactionary bunchy of cranks and bigots. So with that in mind, here’s how this far-right “outlier” party is reacting to the first Democratic 2020 presidential debate last night.
- 2018 Republican U.S. Senate nominee, neo-Confederate Corey Stewart: “The Battle of the Marxists: Open borders, wealth redistribution, elimination of private health insurance, and lots of free stuff for the masses.”
- Virginia GOP: “Well that debate was a mess. Would you rather have your country represented by a real leader or a bunch of directionless Democrats? The choice is clear.
#Trump2020“ - More Virginia GOP: “While President
@realDonaldTrump works to solve the crisis at the southern border, No Borders Beto has pledged to destroy the existing border wall and decriminalize illegal crossings. Voters know President Trump has their back on national security.” - Yet More Virginia GOP: “Trump, Trump, Trump! Do any of these Democrats have anything of substance to say? Resistance vs. Results, folks.
#Trump2020“ - And This Crap From the Virginia GOP: “Shoutout to
@Team_Mitch for getting to live rent-free in these Democrats’ heads.” - And the Virginia GOP Retweeted This Wild Lie From the National GOP: “You just saw Democrats talk about their climate change plans. But what they didn’t mention is how the $93 TRILLION Green New Deal will hurt Americans and devastate our economy.”
- And the Virginia GOP Retweeted This Idiocy From the National GOP Chairwoman: “We’re barely halfway through the
#DemDebate, but there have been: 4 separate calls for open borders 4 endorsements of no restrictions on abortion 1 embarrassing technical difficulty ZERO good ideas.” - And, Of Course, the Virginia GOP Retweeted the Juvenile Nonsense From Its Dear Leader, Donald Trump: “BORING!”
I’m sure there will be more lies and idiocy tonight, given that the Virginia Republican Party has absolutely nothing positive to offer, and instead has to figure out creative ways to change the subject from the abject disaster of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and their own implosion here in Virginia (e.g., they haven’t won a statewide race in a DECADE and only have four out of eleven U.S. House seats!).
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