A few weeks back Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) raised the call of RINO (Republican In Name Only) hunters everywhere:
PURITY!
Because by eliminating those who are impure, you move up the social power ladder, while reassuring, or at least confusing, the unambitious. Here’s the report from Steve Benen:
All of this came to mind again this week after seeing Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia speak to NBC News Vaughn Hillyard about the state of her party’s presidential race. Ahead of the New Hampshire primary, the right-wing congresswoman said:
“This is a true change for the Republican Party. It says not only do we support President Trump, we support his policies, and any Republican that isn’t willing to adapt [sic] these policies, we are completely eradicating from the party.”
As Benen points out, this results in the shrinking of the Party, not only because the impure are kicked out, but, given the propensity of RINO hunters to mendacity, even the rivals who are faithful get kicked out. Some will still vote for Trump, but others will become embittered and not vote – or even switch Parties.
All of this results in a move up prestige ladder for Rep Greene, but the odds of the Republicans doing well becomes less and less. It’s the self-immolation dance of the Republicans.
And here comes a RINO now!
Wisconsin GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher, who made news earlier this week with his vote against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, announced on Saturday that he won’t run for re-election this year. [NBC News]
Beyond the Mayorkas vote, this probably put a bullseye on his back:
Republican political consultant Alex Bruesewitz has been mulling a primary challenge to Gallagher and said in a social media post on Saturday that Gallagher was once “considered by many as a rising star in the GOP,” but “instead of embracing the MAGA movement, he decided to betray the grassroots and protect the swamp.”
In the dog eat dog world of Republican politics, Greene was merely taking out a rival – a rising star – early. How do we know she’s involved?
Such was the case with Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) on Tuesday night. A Princeton and Georgetown-educated PhD, a Marine veteran and a committee chairman, he had warned his GOP colleagues not to “pry open the Pandora’s box of perpetual impeachment,” and he became the decisive third Republican vote against Mayorkas’s impeachment, dooming the effort. As Johnson held the vote open and Democrats howled for the vote to be closed with cries of “regular order,” Republican colleagues encircled Gallagher along the back aisle.
Georgia’s Greene got in his face, clearly threatening him. Tennessee’s Green screamed at him, wagging his index finger. Reps. Virginia Foxx (N.C.), Jodey Arrington (Tex.) and Guy Reschenthaler (Pa.) joined in the berating — while Greene placed a call on her phone. From the first row of the gallery, I could see Gallagher, sometimes with mouth agape, sometimes swallowing hard, as he took in the abuse. In the well, Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Tex.), pointing at the siege of Gallagher, urged Johnson to stall further. But the slashing gesture Greene made indicated it was all over. [WaPo]
Be loyal or get out, and shaking up a combat veteran like Gallagher suggests the threats were earnest and appalling. Gallagher seems like a far better qualified leader than Greene, but in today’s Republican Party, good leaders run a real and substantial risk of removal.
Such leaders as Greene will be little more than caustic acid, destroying the Party from the inside. Soon enough, the Republican Party will consist of three members. And two of them will be on probation.
