I’ve been a Republican as long as I can remember, from Nixon to Trump. The Democrats have been thoroughly repugnant since George McGovern became the standard bearer and ushered in the New Left with its assault on western civilization culminating in the neo-Marxism of today – the woke-stroke – that is currently laying waste to the once and mighty USA. Then, a slice of the GOP started to smell, as if on cue. The locus of foul odor wafted over from the direction of the Matt Gaetz/Majorie Taylor Greene/Loren Boebert/Donald Trump wing of the party. Now, the stench is so bad that I’m beginning to entertain the unthinkable: joining the ranks of independents.
The only thing that causes pause is the desire to stay and fight for a free market and national security/deterrence GOP. That was my party and I did more than vote for it. I contributed money, managed campaigns, fundraised, walked precincts, manned phone banks, the whole litany of activities that define a firm member of the base. Now, a kind of populism has infected the ranks in the form of appeasement on the continent of Europe (Hmmm, is that familiar, circa 1938-41?), a cult of personality that resembles a political death cult (Trump worship), a grossly immature and self-destructive unwillingness to face our entitlement crisis, an embrace of Smoot-Hawley economics, and a history of embarrassing and wild accusations that more reflect the copy rooms of the DC/Marvel universe than a drawing room of serious adults. Who in their right mind would want to be part of that? I know, I know, there are legions who are, but they don’t include me.
Not surprisingly, the latest cringe-worthy episode from the ranks of the unhinged emanated from the Twitter feed of Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG). Somehow, to her, the buffoonish 21-year-old Massachusetts National Guardsman who plastered top secret documents across the world wide web is a hero. In only her latest outrage, she tweeted:
“Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar.
That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime.
And he told the truth about troops being on the ground in Ukraine and a lot more.
Ask yourself who is the real enemy?
A young low level national guardsmen?
Or the administration that is waging war in Ukraine, a non-NATO nation, against nuclear Russia without war powers?”
Besides the incoherence of “against nuclear Russia without war powers”, the rest of it is as nonsensical as that tidbit. How does she know anything about this kid . . . er, young adult? She doesn’t. Fact: she’s just a hothead. As with all hotheads, their immediate concern is to strike a blow against their political rivals regardless of its harm to the country’s national security. For them, though, merely mentioning the phrase “national security” triggers rantings against the Bushes, “forever wars”, conspiracy paranoias, their serial misuse of “RINO”, and fulminations against a host of “globalists” and “elites”. They are consumed in bumper-sticker logic.
She and they show no sign of recognizing the threat posed by the fire-hosing of “top secret” through the ether. Instead, we get MTG bombast. If she will recall – which is unlikely given the delusionary nature of her thinking – her demigod, Donald Trump, suffered at the hands of a leaker of “top secret” or “privileged”. Remember the Zelensky phone call? Or how about the Comey chicanery in giving the content of a privileged conversation with Trump to a buddy? Or the release of the Steele Dossier into the public domain? Fact is, the MTG types were against leaking before they now praise it. They stole a line from John Kerry. Plagiarism?
The rest of the GOP seems cowed by this noxious wing of the party. And maybe they are right to be. A majority of registered Republicans in recent polls appear ready to place Trump in another faceoff with Biden in 2024. Is the base once again willing to stampede off the cliff like a herd of buffalo? Seems to be. So, Republican heavies do a tap dance to avoid annoying the berserkers in their midst. Kudos to Lindsay Graham for calling out this party embarrassment.
If it wasn’t for a few brave souls like Graham, I’d have already decamped the GOP.
RogerG
Read more here:
* Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Twitter remarks at https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1646615867285708802?s=20