Cheney spoke out Tuesday about colleagues tolerating the increasingly violent rhetoric that characterizes their party but condemning lawmakers for voting on programs they see as beneficial for the region. their own – although she personally doesn’t support the infrastructure bill: “The notion that Leader (Kevin) McCarthy would not fully condemn what Paul Gosar has done over and over again, but that he seems to like amusing myself with this move to kick 13 people off their committee, I mean, it’s indisputable – morally and ethically – and it’s politically insane.”
McCarthy said Gosar did not intend to promote violence. But contrary to Cheney’s claims, he also thinks this is not the right time to go after Republicans who support the infrastructure bill. However, the idea that a staunch conservative like Cheney is being ostracized by her own party shows how far the GOP has come from ideology to undiluted Trumpism.
A long-standing, anti-democratic trend
This fresh evidence of the increasingly radical path of the GOP is only the result of a few days. But it comes after months in which the party covered up Trump’s attempt to steal power and backed his lies about a stolen election as part of a nationwide move to authoritarian conservatism. At the state level, Republicans have tried to make voting in elections more difficult but easier to fix. And this week’s riots inside the House also coincided with growing anti-democracy fervor outside it, as Trump’s populist Machiavel Steve Bannon vowed to bring down the Biden “regime” later. when he was accused of contempt of Congress for refusing to testify about the attempted coup against Trump.
And in another example of American democracy in jeopardy, it’s possible that Republicans could win the seats they need to win a majority next year simply through partisan opposition – a fact. in which both parties participate, but Republicans have had more recent success. Years of bipartisan dominance have produced a House of Commons in which there are few competitive seats and in which members are driven to extremes to avoid major challenges by more radical enemies. While the radicalization of the Democratic Party tended to push it towards a more progressive democracy, the same process in the GOP pitted the party of Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln against democracy itself. That fact risks negating the healthy two-party system that has long been the hallmark of this country’s superpower.
Greene warns McCarthy that he’s not a big talker
If McCarthy lives up to his dream of becoming a speaker, his tumultuous conference could make the struggle of former GOP Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan to control their radical outfits. become tame by comparison.
Neither man has had to deal with someone like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who said McCarthy was “a failure” on Wednesday even though he frequently placate Trump. Angered that California Republicans did not strip Republicans who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill in their committee duties, Greene warned that McCarthy was not the right man for the right. lecturing by saying that Trump’s opinion will be “important” in who will be givenl if the GOP wins. The harsh rebuke is a sign that McCarthy must constantly appease the broad Trump faction within his party to secure his own political ambitions – a factor that prompts him to quickly visit Mar-a- Lago this year to backtrack on his earlier criticisms of Trump over the uprising.
The turmoil that has fractured the minority in the GOP House this week is another reflection of the iron fist Trump wields over his party – and especially in the House, which has traditionally shown nationalism. radicalization of the party base.
The reason why Republicans sided with Gosar is because he is one of Trump’s most vehement defenders and accomplices in attacking democracy. The reason why 13 supporters of the popular infrastructure bill got in trouble is that their vote helped Biden win on an issue that Trump clearly failed to make, creating an ugly comparison. with his presidency. And the reason Cheney, one of the most consistent conservative members of the conference, was declared personally unkind by the Wyoming GOP is because she has the courage to stand up to Trump’s authoritarianism.
The scenes of a Republican revolution led by Trump, which have threatened party members to reject the GOP’s ever more extreme dogmas, are all the more extraordinary because of that kind of extremism. could alienate some voters in general elections in more competitive areas.
This week’s outbursts have also drowned out the effective midterm election message McCarthy has been pushing for months about the failure of Biden’s presidency – on the economy, on the pandemic, on the border and foreign.
Evidence of a self-extremist party is driving former Ohio Governor John Kasich, who years ago was branded as a self-proclaimed conservative as a young Republican congressman.
“It’s absolutely insane,” Kasich said on CNN’s “Situation Room,” lamenting his party’s failure to rein in Gosar. “Republicans are lucky people aren’t watching this carefully. If they do, their ability to take over the House will, in my opinion, be questioned. People don’t support it. support this kind of nonsense; they don’t.”
CNN’s Melanie Zanona contributed to this story.
