The Republicans have become the party of violence

[Zorro]

Menacing signals suggest that Jan. 6 may have been the overture, not the finale.

A Republican running for Northampton County executive in Pennsylvania gave a heated address on Aug. 29 about mask mandates in schools. Steve Lynch is tired, he said, of providing his school board arguments and data (he apparently thinks the data support letting kids go maskless), but the important thing about his rant is the threat of force: “Forget into these school boards with frigging data. ... They don’t follow the law! You go in and you remove ‘em. I’m going in there with 20 strong men.”

That’s the kind of language that Republicans are now employing. Lynch has not run for public office before, but he did attend the Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C., and has posted on social media that the violence that day was a false-flag operation meant to discredit Trump supporters.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina spoke last weekend at an event sponsored by the Macon County Republican Party. He delivered the kind of lies that have become routine among some Republicans. The election was stolen — and not just the presidential contest but also the one won by Gov. Roy Cooper (who defeated his opponent by a quarter of a million votes). Cawthorn told the crowd that vaccines are harmful to children and urged them to “defend their children.” A woman asked what he plans to do about the “535 Americans who have been captured from Jan. 6.” Cawthorn, who has apparently heard this before, thundered, “Political hostages!” When someone in the crowd asked, “When are you gonna call us back to Washington?” he replied, “We are actively working on that one.”

Insurrection talk is becoming Cawthorn’s specialty: “If our election systems continue to be rigged and continue to be stolen, then it’s going to lead to one place — and it’s bloodshed.”

Naturally, former President Donald Trump has endorsed him for “whatever he wants to do.”

https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2021/09/04/the-republicans-have-become-the-party-of-violence-column/

Seems that Mona Charen, a longtime champion of all things right-wing Republican, has now discovered that the movement she has long supported is a danger to our democracy. Better late than never, I suppose.

[grumpyduck]

1. The party of anarchy.

I'd love to see someone like Bob Woodward find out how many of them are in Putin's pocket.

There's still room in Gitmo.

[LakeArenal]

2. And...that's the nicest thing you can say about them.

[jmbar2]

3. Normalization of mob authoritarianism

They have shifted the Overton window in a remarkably short period of time.

[Baked Potato]

4. While they flail and scream, Democrats must GOTV. nt

[teach1st]

5. This opinion piece should have many more recs

I was going to post it, but I found your post. Thanks for posting!