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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRepublican Calls Trump 'a Cancer for the Country,' Forced to Retire Early
President Trumps stranglehold on the Republican Party got just a little bit tighter on Thursday night.
Ohio Republican Congressman Anthony Gonzalez, one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the January 6 riots, made the surprise announcement that hell retire early rather than face a Trump-backed primary challenger.
Gonzalez said Trump is a cancer for the country in his interview with the New York Times announcing his decision. And while he insisted he could have won his contest against a Trump-backed challenger, he admitted it would have been a brutally hard primary.
Gonzalez is 37 and in just his second term in Congress, and until recently was viewed as a rising star in the GOP. He was a star wide receiver on the Ohio State Universitys football team and a first-round National Football League pick who went on to get his MBA at Stanford University, and as a Cuban-American offered diversity to a party struggling to show its not just a party of old white men.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkb54b/republican-trump-retire-congress-gonzalez
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I'm betting he gets tons of hate mail--and worse--from the illiterate trumpians in his constituency, and that's what influenced his decision.
Botany
(70,281 posts)Although I might disagree with his politics he is a good guy.
I would love to see MAGA/oath keeper/proud boy get in his face.
Arazi
(6,829 posts)The only way the Republican party endures is for people to stand up against the Trumpers.
I'm sure AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib etc can help him deal with the threats. They're also newbies MOC yet they're brave enough to persist in trying to help us despite (worse) death threats.
Fuck this guy. This isn't noble at all
Botany
(70,281 posts)... starter for the Ohio State football team, he was all big ten, a first round draft pick, a 3 or 4 year
player in the NFL (injuries shortened his career), and he is a good man too. He is hardly a chickenshit.
I think the reason he dropped out from running again in 2022 was threats to to his family by MAGA
folks.
BTW that "chickenshit" was one of the few republicans to vote to impeach Trump and has publicly called
Trump a cancer.
Arazi
(6,829 posts)I'm sure Liz Cheney, AOC, Adam Kinzinger, Ilhan Omar etc are getting massive death threats from MAGA people against themselves and their families.
He's caving to Trumpers. Fuck him. The Trumpers will win his seat and we get another shithead like MTG or Bang Bang. He knows that and is running away
Botany
(70,281 posts)Look, I might not agree with his politics but Mr. Gonzales is a good man, who has done a lot
of charity work, and he loves his family too. He is also very smart and no doubt has good reasons
for not running for reelection and one of those reasons might very well be is to protect his family.
I'm from Columbus, OH and know some people who have had some dealings w/Mr. Gonzales and they think
very highly of him. I wouldn't be surprised if one day he is governor of the state.
You do not play tight end in the Big Ten and then the NFL by being "a chickenshit."
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Arazi
(6,829 posts)They both have children. Both are targets of vicious MAGA attacks.
Or AOC?
Honestly, this guy's caving. I guess it only raises my estimation of the Dems who persist despite the threats. Chickenshit Republicans can go to hell if they're buckling right when we need them most.
11 Bravo
(23,922 posts)On the other hand, anonymous internet bad-asses seldom if ever receive credible threats.
Arazi
(6,829 posts)Or worse from MAGAts?
This guy's running away just when he needs to stay and fight the most. Fuck him
Diamond_Dog
(31,657 posts)And join the Democratic Party? Or at least become an Independent?
These people quit and then that just leaves the door wide open for the amoral low lifes to swoop right in and take their place.
msongs
(67,193 posts)Jilly_in_VA
(9,852 posts)and perfectly ok with me, although I reserve my right to disagree with him, just as I do with Liz Cheney. But I understand why he is quitting and although I wish he wouldn't, I can't say I blame him. Family comes first and if your family is getting repeated threats and nastiness, why put up with it? I'd be tempted, were I him, to try finding a slightly friendlier climate, but I'm not sure there is one right now.
UTUSN
(70,494 posts)GoodRaisin
(8,885 posts)his political energy will be spent to keep Trump from ever being President again, well, were on the same side on that!