A Republican Party Of Conspiracists And Seditionists Will Fall, GOP Lawmaker Says

[marmar]

(HuffPost) The Republican Party cannot survive if leaders continue to reshape it into an entity of “insane” QAnon conspiracy theorists and seditionists, freshman GOP Rep. Peter Meijer warned in a dark interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday.

The Michigan congressman said he has been stunned by Republican silence about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a QAnon conspiracist. She has advanced a nonsensical theory that a space laser beam ignited California’s 2018 wildfires. Greene has also said that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the horrific mass shootings in Las Vegas, at a Parkland, Florida, high school and at Sandy Hook Elementary School never actually happened but were staged by actors as part of a “deep state” conspiracy.

Meijer said it’s astounding the Republican Party appears to think it’s more important to condemn Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) for voting to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection” in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol than to condemn Greene’s “insane” theories. (Meijer was also one of the 10 Republicans in the House to vote for impeachment.)

He also lashed out at the GOP’s failure to consistently condemn the Capitol siege by Donald Trump supporters.

“It’s just staggering how many folks continue to ... try to paper over what happened” at the Capitol, “try to move on, just say ... ‘Let’s forget about it.’ I’m just at a loss for words,” Meijer said. ................(more)

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/peter-meijer-conspiracist-seditionists-gop-trouble_n_60136c73c5b6bde2f5bdfe40?

[edhopper]

1. Unfortunately

they can still rule with a minority of the votes.

[Iliyah]

2. I hope sooner than later . . .

[sandensea]

49. +1

None of this is new to them. They've been going in this radicalized direction since Gingrinch took over the party in the early '90s.

Sedition was the inevitable outcome - and it'll probably only get worse.

[SergeStorms]

3. A sane republican?

Fact is stranger than fiction, I guess.

[lindysalsagal]

10. Probably got a career to return to after they primary him.

JUst a guess.

[Progressive Jones]

12. His family has a major food store chain in the Upper Midwest. nt

[kirkuchiyo]

21. Yup, I shop there all the time.

Actually one of the better stores I've ever been in.

[Progressive Jones]

42. Same here. It's a high quality operation, and I'm in an area where I have many choices.

The prices can't be beat, and the customer service is great.

[Wounded Bear]

4. Only if we Dems continue to maximize voter turnout...

We created a wave in 2018 and then maintained enough of it to survive a counter-surge from the right in 2020.

We need to continue to set turnout records in '22 and going forward to make the GOP "go away."

[wnylib]

34. agree.

[Beartracks]

52. Sideline Republicans with your votes EACH and EVERY time.

Honestly: dog catcher, sheriff, school board, state legislature, national mid-terms - every time. Republicans tend to go off the rails into crazy town, devolution, or insurrection whenever too many of them get elected.

========

[myohmy2]

5. it's become...

...a fascist Party that has embraced insurrection as a normal part of our political discourse...

...they are a major threat to our democracy...

...

[onetexan]

20. yup, the enemy is within. We have domestic terrorists in the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands

to thwart. Oy vey.

[wnylib]

35. Sadly, this is very true.

[Johnny2X2X]

6. And yet Meijer was all Trump all the time in his campaign

He's my Congressman, I voted for his opponent who would have been one of the most outstanding people to ever serve in congress. Meijer is a trust fund baby, and ran on being a Trumpster. So there's a bit disingenuousness to him here. Trump is the lead Conspiracist and Seditionist, Mejier sure talked about him enough during the campaign.

To reject these crazies is to reject Trump, he needs to be more clear about that.

His party is the crazy party, either embrace the crazy or leave. Paying half assed lip service while still supporting the leader of your party is cowardice.

[JHB]

7. The last quarter century says "maybe, but then again maybe not"

It will only fall when it falls, when it is repeatedly crushed electorally and extremism loses its value.

[bdamomma]

8. Those Republicans

who are supporting Qanon are only doing so for their votes for 2022. They want to please "their base" or "their Al Queda".

I hope this plan blows up in their faces. Well if the cult leader is involved it will.

[Lonestarblue]

14. And McConnell wants to get his Majority Leader status back in 2022.

That’s why he will do nothing to offend Trump, such as voting to convict an obvious insurrectionist whose actions were clearly illegal and also resulted in five deaths on January 6 and two more since.

[Midnightwalk]

9. The question is how much they bring down with them

There are too many people willing to believe conspiracy theories and demonization of scapegoats.

I don’t really care what happens to the gop. I care about whether those 74 million trump voters latch onto a new messiah.

[dianaredwing]

41. I wish people would qualitfy this

Trump did not get 74 million votes in his biggest dreams. HE CHEATS. We know he cheats. He just did not cheat enough. I don't know what would work, perhaps 'alleged 74 million votes", but the one thing we can ALWAYS be sure of is that TRUMP CHEATS.

[Midnightwalk]

45. Ironic to see in this op.

So you agree with republicans that the election was fraudulent but the fraud added millions of votes to trump not biden?

What would you like me to change the 74 to? 67? 35? Any number will do?

[Firestorm49]

11. Well, a Republican with common sense.

I don’t believe that the Republican Party will have a “come to Jesus” realization any time soon. By appointing the lunatic Dreyfus (oops, I mean Green) to the Education committee, just shows how out of touch with reality the Republican party is. McCarthy’s jaunt to meet with Trump just amplifies their complete and total lack of understanding and disrespect to the Constitution to which they have sworn an oath.

We may breath a momentary sigh of relief now that Biden has won, but as long as Trump and his ilk go unpunished, and as long as Republicans introduce bills to overturn the will of the people (Arizona) our nerves will continue to ratchet up and our blood pressures will rise.

We will eventually overcome these frustrating times. It will take good law enforcement, infiltration of groups, and strict sentencing, but time will heal the wounds inflicted by a near total collapse of America under Republican (lack of) leadership.

[Escurumbele]

13. Question...What would happen if some of these republicans who are sick about their party changed

to Democrats? Would they loose their sits?

Thank you

[Wednesdays]

23. They won't lose their seats immediately

But you can bet the lunatics will work overtime to unseat them at the next election! So, it would be political suicide if they were in solid red districts

[MagickMuffin]

33. But he's probably toast anyways because he voted for impeachment

That will already be his demise in the Q'Lunatic Party

[Danascot]

27. The problem is a lot of these Goopers

come from heavily red/GOP districts and they will never vote for anyone other than a rwnj. I think I read that MTG's district was 90% GOP.

[librechik]

15. You have to make them go, and not gently. WE have to let them know they can't be

unAmerican foreign agents and expect to be welcome anyway.

The problem with this Rep is he is at a loss for words. Just scream, and get the other sane Republicans to scream too.

[Wednesdays]

16. He's not gonna be in the party long

I give him a year, two at most, before he resigns, abandons the GOP, or is primaried out of office.


ETA: or is shot to death by one of the Promise Keepers or Three-percenters.

[judesedit]

17. If he's serious, he'll switch parties

[Denvermosaic]

22. My thoughts exactly. Why is he hanging around with dangerous lunatics?

[Wednesdays]

24. For political survival

See my post #23, above

[Ferrets are Cool]

18. Wishful thinking

[Oldem]

19. I may be overly optimistic,

but I agree with him. And if the MYG repugs don't implode, we always have the example of mad King George. There was a revolution against him. So, in spite of the lunatic fringe in our electorate, I don't think a lunatic GOP can last. From within or without, it will be crushed. Then, we'll look back and dissect it all, trying to figure out how it could have happened. If I'm wrong, and the lunatic right prevails, we're lost.

[Wednesdays]

25. Are you saying the American Revolution caused King George's madness?

There's been an old legend that the loss of the colonies triggered George's madness. However, the war was over and the treaty signed by 1783, and George's madness started suddenly in 1788, and it's now believed that the cause was physiological rather than psychological.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_III

[Oldem]

26. No.

My post says there was mad King George. Then there was the revolution. Maybe my chronology is wrong, but that's what I said.

[jalan48]

28. They only need to survive until we get a dictator.

[roamer65]

29. ...as it should.

It must be utterly crushed and thrown to the wind.

[NoMoreRepugs]

30. Uhh, Pete? Maybe come over to the sane Party???

[Nitram]

31. It will either fall or we will end up with a fascist government.

[wnylib]

37. That is what I think, too.

The RW extremists who coalesced into a mainstream movement under Trump will not go away. They will persist, with the backing of some strong money families, toward their goal of a fascist government. As they persist in that direction and we persist in opposing them, I'm more and more concerned that violence will escalate. Jan 6 demonstrates that they are willing and prepared to go that route.

[Nitram]

38. I hoped the insurrection at the Capitol would break the back of Trump, Trumpists, and armed

right wing radical moments. Obviously I was wrong. They have doubled down. The sooner we get these people in jail the better. The sooner we get Trump in jail the better.

[wnylib]

43. Yes they need to be put in jail.

But the process is slow and the RW has positions of power to throw obstacles in the way. They have judges to rule in their favor and governors to pardon those who are convicted. There are sympathizers who could be on juries to prevent convictions.

I don't mean to say that crushing them is hopeless. It is not, and we should definitely go after them. But the situation is much more complex than just rounding up the insurrectionists. Jan 6 shows how deeply embedded such people are in the police, military, legislatures, and among everyday citizens. All the worst elements of the nation have coalesced into one movement and there are people with power and money to back them.

Defeating the RW fascist movement in the US will be a long and difficult process. It is like being on the verge of a new Dark Ages, but from an embedded internal "invasion," although there are counterparts in other countries.

[crickets]

46. 👆 It is going to be a long process. We cannot allow it to stall. nt

[wnylib]

48. We can do something at the federal

level, e.g. getting the 1/6 seditionists, but state level crackdowns on RW extremism depends on the political status of the state.

I agree that we cannot let it stall. I also know that while we are prosecuting one terrorist, 10 more are lining up to replace the prosecuted one.

So we need to do more than prosecute. We need counter messaging. We need to debunk conspiracy theories and disinformation in ways that reach people. Not in attempts at rational discussions, but in ways that reach them emotionally, because that is what drives them. We could take some lessons from the Lincoln Project and do some of our own videos and outreach.

[Cosmocat]

44. Coin flip

nm

[bucolic_frolic]

32. In a sane world, yes

but until they figure out how to administer the psychotic agents ....

Is Meijer part of the Meijer retailing chain?

[BobTheSubgenius]

36. Clearly, the GOP has to change radically and quickly, or Meijer has a very short tenure with them.

At first, there was a part of me that welcomed the unbridled insanity, and saw some possibilities therein. That they would become so intolerable as individuals and their conspiracy theories so bizarre that the majority of their party would eventually have to do something to get them out of the public eye.

But it now occurs to me....what if this turns out to be the majority in the GOP? Not the entirety - Senate right down to voters. It suddenly doesn't seem that far-fetched, and I am not at all sure that normal governance could survive.

Democrats table a bill detailing massive infrastructure overhaul, and the way to fund it without breaking the bank. The GOP won't even discuss it without a rider ensuring that Jewish space lasers are pinpointed and either destroyed or commandeered. But first, a huge, in-depth investigation of at least a year.

What then?

[Nitram]

39. Bob, those are my thoughts exactly.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

40. Moron Traitor Greene will provide lots of laughs until she gets someone killed.

[crickets]

47. - or until she kills someone herself.

I see that as a distinct possibility, and no doubt at least some Repubs do as well. Yet they do nothing.

[badboy67]

50. I've been hearing of the "imminent demise" of the foul, racist, and anti American GOP for 30+ years.

It's the vast, uncontested, rightwing propaganda machine that keeps the GOP together. Until we can confront its lies, it will continue to have a deathgrip on the Nation and against all progress toward a just, livable, fair, & democratic future.

[Laelth]

51. A principled Republican.

It’s rare, but it does happen.



-Laelth