Republicans have an extreme problem
“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
Yeah, I’m gonna go right ahead and assume that when Barry Goldwater said that he wasn’t hiding under a table while a gang of morons roamed the Capitol looking for politicians to lynch.
Extremism probably sounds a lot better when you’re not its victim.
There’s a school of thought that goes like this: a lot of our problems are not caused by Democrats or Republicans, Hatfields or McCoys, or cats or dogs: a lot of our problems are caused by extremists. And right now the Republican Party has a pretty big problem with extremists, as a recent poll indicates.
Let’s back up and start at the beginning.
As some of you already know (and by “some of you” I mean those who haven’t been hit in the forehead with a shovel and developed some form of amnesia) polls are often inaccurate.
If polls were 100 percent accurate Hillary Clinton would currently be president and Donald Trump would be working on Season 16 of The Apprentice in which candidates to be Trump’s protégé would have to run an obstacle course while waving a Confederate flag in one hand and a burning copy of the U.S. Constitution in the other.
So considering the inaccuracy of some polls, take this next bit of news with a grain of salt the size of a Wilson softball – assuming Wilson makes softballs and I don’t know for sure because I’m too lazy to look it up.
Anyway…
It’s easy to say the rioters at the Capitol were extremists and don’t represent the Republican Party so go ahead and say that if you feel like it, but in a recent poll a majority of Republicans surveyed said President-elect Joe Biden was at fault for the actions of Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol.
I’ll give you a minute to let that sink in, although I’m not sure a minute’s gonna do it.
52% of Republicans polled said Joe Biden was “somewhat to blame” and since the Kansas City Star article I read didn’t explain their reasoning – which might be difficult if not impossible and require the help of Sigmund Freud who as far as I know is currently dead and planning to stay that way – I can only assume Joe Biden’s crime was running against and beating Donald Trump.
Face facts: if Joe Biden hadn’t beaten Donald Trump, instead of storming the Capitol those Trump supporters would have been just fine with the election’s outcome and could have stayed home, washing their hoods and bedsheets, drinking beer and throwing the empty cans out on their lawn while waiting for the mailman to deliver the latest issue of Guns & Ammo.
It all makes sense if you just think it through.
(And if that description of Trump-supporting racists seems unfair, you’re right; I’m sure plenty of people who wear “Camp Auschwitz” T-shirts live in nice homes in the suburbs and keep their Confederate flags hidden in the man-cave in their basement.)
But blaming Biden for what happened wasn’t the only result of the poll.
45% of Republicans polled approved of storming the Capitol while 43% opposed it; no word on the missing 12% who might be on the run because – as the above cartoon suggests – people in law enforcement are looking for them. So if I’m reading the poll correctly: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and 45% of Republicans are from some Home for the Criminally Insane.
The poll had a margin of error of about a billion percent.
But if the poll is even close to accurate – and I’ll listen to arguments on both sides – that’s pretty damn frightening.
I know there are reasonable Republicans out there – I’m friends with some of them – but if you describe yourself as a Reasonable Republican, which would not be a bad name for the new party you might need, you have a problem.
Your party is being invaded by violent extremists and Donald Trump is the one who invited them in.
It’s like holding a get-together where you planned to have cheese fondue and play charades with fellow members of the PTA and the local chapter of the Hell’s Angels showed up because Donald Trump invited them to drop on by.
And by extension, the people who enabled Donald Trump also enabled the extremists. Vote for a guy who thinks it’s OK to grab women by the vagina and doesn’t like immigrants from countries that aren’t sufficiently White and see how that works out for you. Donald Trump’s reputation for being a horse’s ass was well established before he ever ran for president and nearly 63 million people voted for him anyway.
During the Capitol riot the Trump mob was chanting, “Hang Mike Pence” because Mike didn’t plan to overturn the Electoral College results – a Constitutional power that doesn’t actually exist – and any time Mike Pence is the most reasonable guy in the room you might consider moving to a different room.
As has been pointed out on numerous occasions, silence enables Donald Trump so maybe now is a good time for Reasonable Republicans to speak up, which is why I posted that Arnold Schwarzenegger video: he said what I’d like to think a lot of Republicans are thinking, although most Republicans wouldn’t refer to Conan the Barbarian’s sword while saying it. Come to think of it, most Republicans couldn’t lift Conan the Barbarian’s sword (I’m pretty sure the same goes for most Democrats), but I think I’m drifting away from my main point:
We need to change the U.S. Constitution so Arnold Schwarzenegger can become president. Sure, he might bang a housekeeper or two, but right now that seems like a pretty small price to pay.
Don’t misunderstand: violent extremists on the Left are just as bad and I’m pretty sure setting cop cars on fire isn’t going to get us where we need to go.
But right now the problem is getting through the next nine days without more people dying because Donald Trump lied his ass off about the election. Apparently more riots are planned for the near future, including January 20th and this time the rioters can let it all hang out because Donald Trump, being the incredibly gracious man that he is and always will be, has decided he won’t attend Joe Biden’s inauguration.
So we’ve got that to look forward to.
In this past election over 74 million people voted for Donald Trump and I’d like to think all 74 million didn’t approve of storming the Capitol or what’s planned next, but it doesn’t help the GOP’s image when they take a poll and 45% of the Republicans they talked to approved of Wednesday’s riot.
One last thought:
Before things went bat-shit crazy on Wednesday, Donald Trump urged the crowd to “fight like hell” and Rudy Giuliani suggested “trial by combat.” If extremists and moderates are fighting for the soul of the GOP and we’re going to take Rudy’s suggestion, I really think the main event should be Rudy Giuliani vs. Conan the Barbarian.
And right now, Conan is the civilized one.