5/26/2021

Republicans Are the Extremists, and They Want to Blow Up the Joint

Last week, Republican House Minority Leader Kevin "I hope Trump keeps my balls on ice so they can be reattached some day" McCarthy gave a press conference that was a distillation of everything the GOP is right now. Indeed, in many ways, it was a succinct summary of the Republican strategy since at least Ronald Reagan, if not Barry Goldwater. The best way to describe it would be "barbaric nihilism masked as patriotism and piety." Or maybe "A pile of bullshit with a hypocrisy sauce dripped on top that they expect their voters to gleefully gobble up." 

McCarthy dragged out the old hits that Trump Republicans have revived. Much like Donald Trump's brain, the GOP's development was arrested in the 1980s, which is why McCarthy can say with a straight face, "Socialism never practice what it preaches. That is why I’m alarmed when Democrats use Socialist rhetoric and push Socialist policies." 

Every time a conservative launches into some old song about supposed leftist extremists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Bernie Sanders, I just think, "You dumb motherfuckers wouldn’t know how to deal with real left-wing extremists. You think drum-circle kids with Antifa tattoos and Bernie memes are radical? The fuck are you talking about? Health care-for-all is no more socialist than roads and fire departments. Those are public goods. You think a higher tax rate on the rich is some kind communist plot? You couldn’t fucking take some genuine motherfucking wealth redistributionists who will strip the rich people of their money and property at the end of gun, if necessary. We’re talking people who would fucking blow up Trump Tower. We're talking environmental warriors and armed Marxists ready to bring capital to its knees. But you know what? On the left, we don’t give those real radicals the keys to the party. The right fucking elects its extremists. Its racists. Its conspiracy nuts. Its gun nuts. They’re running the joint now. We have to bargain with terrorists when we try to reason with Republicans. Fuck you."

I'm not making this shit up. It's not just Cro-Magnon Barbie doll Marjorie Taylor Greene and her antisemitic grunts while waving a spear and screaming at the moon for murdering the sun. She and a few other hysterical shit babies just sent a letter to the Secretary of Defense whining about "the creeping left-wing extremism in the U.S. military." What's the evidence of this? Is it an attempt to steal military equipment to attack Wall Street? No, it's that soldiers might have to watch a video with a lesbian couple and their kids. Or they might have to do some diversity training. This is their response to an investigation into right-wing extremism in the military, which is not about teaching soldiers not to be racist, but is about violent motherfuckers joining things like, oh, hey, a coup against the U.S. government.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Clark County, Nevada (where Las Vegas and 75% of the state's population are), is desperately trying to prevent a takeover by the Proud Boys, those Nazis-without-the training who have become so ubiquitous at GOP events that, really, the line between the two groups really doesn't exist. But that doesn't mean Republicans want that relationship out in the open by electing them to leadership positions. "Jesus," county officials must be thinking, "keep the crazies in the cellar. Don't let 'em run free and fuck it up for the rest of us."

Getting back to McCarthy, just look at this shit he babbled on about. He said, "Democrats want to control what we read, what we teach our children and deny our history" while Republican legislatures are passing laws that literally control what is taught and what is read when it comes to history.  He said, "Democrats want to censure free speech and restrict debate through political correctness" while stripping the incredibly shitty Liz Cheney of her leadership because what she said about Trump and the election was not heterodox enough for the GOP terrorists. He said, "Democrats want to redistribute taxpayers’ hard-earned money from those who work to those who choose not to" while refusing to raise the minimum wage and after having cut taxes on the wealthiest, taking money from the hard-working poor to fund the wealthy.

It's not hypocrisy. It's utter bullshit, and it's bullshit that's meant to keep the Tucker Carlson-watching shit gobblers satisfied. Terrorists thrive on lies and duping the easily fooled. It's how they succeed. And they do it all to please Donald Trump, who is their Osama bin Laden, not satisfied until he brings the whole goddamn joint down.

The point here is that Democrats need to stop pretending that these savages can be reasoned with. Every time Joe Manchin meets with Republican senators, he is giving aid and comfort to a group of mad bombers who want to push the country backwards, who will undermine the things we believe are foundational to the nation, like democracy and freedom of expression and more. We can't treat terrorists like they're honorable or reasonable negotiators.