Do you ever just shake your head and wonder how in the world you ever got to a point where you’re actively agreeing with and rooting for Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney? I know that we here at Lede Progress do… and that’s when you realize that it’s not that you’ve politically gone to the Right or that Liz Cheney went to the Left, no, that’s when you realize just how far the Republican Party has gone off into an extremist, Ultra-MAGA agenda that’s hard to even comprehend.
Undeterred, despite her own party’s censure, Liz Cheney is on a mission if not to save her party, at least to absolve herself of its sins. On Monday, following yet another hate-filled, racially motivated, mass-shooting in America, Cheney posted the following to her Twitter account:
What stands out about her post is the plain language, the clarity with which she holds her own party, the GOP, accountable for its role in enabling and mainstreaming conspiracy theories like White Replacement, used by mass shooters from Christchurch New Zealand to Charleston SC to El Paso TX to Buffalo to justify their murder sprees.
Because she’s right: the GOP should be held accountable for their embrace of far right conspiracies in the wake of Donald Trump’s takeover of the Party. Just as Fox News should be, and OANN, and Breitbart, Alex Jones et al. Yes, the killers deserve their blame—and may their time in court be swift and terrifying–but Republicans at large, and especially their propaganda apparatus at FOX, deserve a full-throated condemnation of their own for pushing viewers and constituents to extremist views for petty political gain.
Yet, can we expect this to actually happen?
The answer, sadly, is no.
Today’s Republican Party is quick to defend “free speech” when President Trump’s ability to incite insurrection on Twitter is on the line, or when it comes to Tucker Carlson’s whitewashing and mainstreaming of divisive conspiracies. But they’re less quick to defend free speech when it’s teachers discussing institutional racism with their students, or LGBTQIA+ people just discussing, well, being alive. But if it’s Elise Stefanik advancing inane conspiracies about “pedos and grifters” being responsible for America’s formula shortage, or Laura Ingraham’s disgustingly out-in-the-open attempt to repurpose the term “Groomer,” that = free speech.
When it’s Liz Cheney demanding accountability, it’s censure worthy.
Yet, Americans are beginning to take note. Here’s Rolling Stone, clearly and concisely tell the truth: “The Buffalo Shooter Isn’t a ‘Lone Wolf.’ He’s a Mainstream Republican“
Or here’s another exiled Republican, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, calling it like it is:
What’s needed are bold actions and pointed condemnations.
As the GOP lies about “groomers,” “Critical Race Theory,” “White Replacement” and trans girls destroying womens’ sports (or let’s face it -everything), Americans must reject their racist hate-mongering with a clear and concise voice.
Simply put, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger are right. We must stand up to this dangerous, racist language before more people die.