“In a key impeachment test vote this week, 45 GOP senators signaled that they plan for Trump to pay no price for inciting the most heinous assault by a president on the US government in history in the Capitol riot.”
– Stephen Collinson, CNN (January 28, 2021)
This news comes as the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday issued a rare threat bulletin related to domestic terrorism Wednesday warning of the potential for violence by extremists emboldened by the US Capitol attack.
(Stephen Collinson. “In the Republican Party, the post-Trump era lasted a week.” CNN. January 28, 2021.)
Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed the direct threat of Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia's 14th congressional district, who repeatedly indicated support for executing prominent Democratic politicians in 2018 and 2019 before being elected to Congress, a CNN KFile review of hundreds of posts and comments from Greene's Facebook page shows. Pelosi said Greene should not be seated on the House Education Committee.
Greene's views garnered fresh attention this week when CNN reported on a video showing her in 2019 accosting a survivor of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Greene has said that shooting, which left 17 dead, as well as the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which left 26 dead, including 20 children, were both staged events.
That's right, I have to repeat this craziness once more – “executing” Democratic politicians and calling Stoneman Douglas and Sandy Hook “staged events.” Greene is a subscriber of the QAnon pro-Trump conspiracy theory. For real – a United States Representative is still spouting this bullshit after the failed insurrection of January 6. It is stupefying. Have we entered the twilight zone?
Followers of "Q" often believe that the world is controlled by elite members of a secretive satanic child sex-trafficking ring. They think these plotters in the deep state tried to shoot down Air Force One and foil President Trump’s North Korea summit. They think a cabal of global elites, including top figures in Hollywood, the Democratic Party, and the intelligence agencies, are responsible for nearly all the evil in the world. And now they hold on to the belief that Trump is going to fix it all with thousands of sealed indictments, sending the likes of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama straight to Guantanamo Bay.
And, through it all, Greene has been embraced by conservative hard-liners. Once Trump called her a “future Republican star.” False narratives were pushed for weeks by Trump and his Republican enablers in Washington, and they still find a home in sections of the conservative media.
Get a good picture of this demented “star.”
In one post, from January 2019, Greene liked a comment that said "a bullet to the head would be quicker" to remove House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In other posts, Greene liked comments about executing FBI agents who, in her eyes, were part of the "deep state" working against Trump.
In one Facebook post from April 2018, Greene wrote conspiratorially about the Iran Deal, one of former President Barack Obama's signature foreign policy achievements. A commenter asked Greene, "Now do we get to hang them ?? Meaning H & O ???," referring to Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Greene replied, "Stage is being set. Players are being put in place. We must be patient. This must be done perfectly or liberal judges would let them off."
After CNN reached out to Greene, her personal Twitter account posted a statement in which she did not deny that she liked posts and replied to comments but claimed that many people have run her Facebook page.
(Em Steck and Andrew Kaczynski. “Congresswoman indicated support for executing top Democrats in 2018-2019 social media posts.” CNN. January 27 2021.)
And so, the Q faithful look to places like TikTok (which has a younger-skewing user base and has historically struggled to curb the proliferation of conspiracy theories) that host to the baseless belief that President Trump will be sworn into office on March 4th, 2021.
One TikTok creator says in a video that has also been shared by other Trump supporters (more than 78,000 followers, in a video that has 15,400 views) …
“Listen, patriots, y’all can relax. We’re going back to a republic come March. Trump will be back in the presidency but he will be the 19th president ’cause we’re not gonna be a corporation no more. We’re going back to the republic. Your boy will be inaugurated March 4. Period, point blank, end of story.”
Fruitcake Greene should have the House put an end to her political life. Her dangerous false narratives" are potential catalysts for future violent uprisings.
But, the bloody hands of the unrepentant Grand Old Party Power have no interest in distancing themselves from Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, QAnon, the Proud Boys, the White nationalist movement, or any other right-wing Tom, Dick, or Harry.
The Republicans have no conscience and no sense of justice. Trump has just discussed his plans to get involved in the 2022 congressional elections with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. Before Trump left for Mar-a-Lago on January 20, he promised to “be back in some form.” And, so it begins – with the loving embrace of the Republican Party.
Republicans will overwhelming vote to acquit Trump in February when the Senate holds an impeachment trial on a charge that Trump incited the riot. His allies have already stepped up attacks against Republican House members who backed impeachment – critics who may face Trump-backed challengers in Republican primaries next year.
The Republicans have no backbone for protecting democracy. They care only about their party united under a dark coalition and their reelection campaigns. Trump's approval ratings fell to record lows after the riot January 6. However, more recent surveys show him regaining support among Republicans. A Morning Consult/Politico poll this week said 50% of Republican voters say he should play a "major role" in the future of the party.
(David Jackson and Christine Stapleton. “Trump and Rep. Kevin McCarthy discussed 2022 election during Florida meeting as Trump allies target pro-impeachment Republicans.” USA TODAY. January 28, 2021.)
Is there any bit of responsibility left in the Republican Party? They created this whole alternate universe by electing Trump and supporting conspirators who aim to tear down our Constitutional foundations. Trump is out of office yet the party continues to support demagoguery, loyalty tests, and alternative facts. The GOP refuses to rebuild their party and abandon Trump.
In the end, Republicans will ignore how Trump tried to get state and federal officials to break the law and how his lies fueled the rage of supporters who attacked the Capitol, all part of this autocratic effort to stay in power. If the GOP would split into two smaller parties – pro-Trump and anti-Trump – the schism would guarantees that the larger Democrat Party will win a lot more elections.
Perhaps the pro-democracy Republicans’ best bet is to tell their seditionist fellow party members the truth about the 2020 election. The majority may listen to an intraparty debate to save the soul of the party in which Republicans vigorously defend the right to vote, even if it means losing elections.
Don't hold your breath for that to happen. Remember, Trump does not apologize or admit guilt. Instead, the GOP will put party over substance, party over ethics, and party over the responsibility to condemn anarchists and demagogues. They fear losing Donald Trump's base of fragile White Americans, a group that desperately fears losing what they consider “their America” – a country in which diversity and free thought do not exist.
So, the GOP will cook up everything in a nice, easily digestible, right-wing repast that includes traditional political party fare – Second Amendment rights, Right to Life religious tenets, “America First” jingoism, phony “law and order” power grabs, and lots of fraudulent boasts of Trump “I did” triumphs – and deliver it for immediate consumption to anyone hungry to convince themselves they are still “making America great again.” The aimless Republican Party could care less about who gobbles up the bureaucratic buffet. Militias and Qanon crazies – all extremists are welcome at the table still hosted by the criminal ex-president.
And the discordant beat goes on … come riot, conspiracy, or high water.
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