Keeping in mind that the Republican Party’s ideological generational lifespan is on the order of a fruit fly, here’s a sample of the next generation of Republicans.
Far-right extremist Michael Peroutka became the Republican Party’s nominee for Maryland state attorney general with a victory in Tuesday’s primary. Peroutka’s victory is a fiery red flag about the increasing extremism of the Republican Party’s base—as is the gubernatorial primary victory of Trumpist Dan Cox. In April, both Peroutka and Cox appeared at a gathering of QAnon conspiracy theorists called “Patriots Arise.”
Peroutka declared in 2014 that the Maryland General Assembly was no longer a legitimate governing body because its support for marriage equality violated God’s law, and that therefore none of the laws it passed were “legally valid and legally enforceable.”
Peroutka was a board member of the Confederacy-celebrating, pro-Southern-secessionist League of the South. At the group’s 2012 national convention, he led the crowd in singing “Dixie,” which he referred to as “the national anthem.” He quit the League in 2014 when he decided to run for the Anne Arundel County Council, claiming unconvincingly that he had been unaware of the group’s racism.
Peroutka founded the Institute on the Constitution, a Christian Reconstructionist organization that favors religious tests for public office and teaches that the government’s role is to enforce God’s law, and that the government has no legitimate authority to “house, feed, clothe, educate, or give health care to…ANYBODY!” [Right Wing Watch]
Peroutka would no doubt chase former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) out of the Party with a rolling pin in hand. He would have been a member of the Fire-Eaters had he been around during the American Civil War. It’s clear that he has no concept of Justice, just a Trust in God approach, and since he gets to specify God’s instructions, you can bet, well, it makes it easy to justify damn silliness. Don’t believe me?
VICE’s Cameron Joseph wrote about the potential for a Peroutka victory in a story published Monday. In a 2017 story for Talking Point Memo, Joseph reported that during Peroutka’s presidential campaign, Peroutka said he was still angry that Maryland hadn’t seceded in the run-up to the Civil War, praised his son for calling the Confederal flag the “American flag,” and praised his daughter for refusing to play the Battle Hymn of the Republic in her school band.
He’s a goof, a whack job, but since he’s so far to the right he should have been laughed right off the ballot and into obscurity, we can guess this is the next generation of far-right Republicans.
