We deserve to know, but the GOP ain’t gonna tell us
until after they get back in power
Then, it will be a surprise and not for the faint of heart
.... at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual gathering of the right wing of American politics, the news convulsing the world seemed oddly distant. Instead, the focus was on cultural grievances, former President Donald J. Trump and the widespread sense of victimization that have replaced traditional conservative issues.
Like so many of the Republican officials who have remade themselves in his image, Mr. Trump, in a speech to the conference on Saturday night, sought to portray himself as a victim of assaults from Democrats and the news media. He said they would leave him alone if he were not a threat to seek the presidency again in 2024.
“If I said ‘I’m not going to run,’ the persecution would stop immediately,” Mr. Trump said. “They’d go on to the next victim.”
Mr. Trump had broad support at the event: Of those who responded, 85 percent said they would back him for the Republican nomination for president again, and 97 percent said they approved of his performance as president, according to a straw poll of CPAC attendees. Asked who should be the G.O.P. presidential nominee in 2024, 59 percent said Mr. Trump and 28 percent said Gov. Ron DeSantis. of Florida — though Floridians made up 37 percent of CPAC attendees.
Eight months before the midterm elections, familiar Republican themes like lower taxes and a muscular foreign policy took a back seat to the idea that America is backsliding into a woke dystopia unleashed by liberal elites. Even the G.O.P. was more than a bit suspect.
Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, a pro-Trump grass-roots group focusing on millennial conservatives, denounced “the Republican Party of old” in his speech to the conference, known as CPAC and held in Orlando, Fla., this year.
“Conservative leaders can learn something from our wonderful 45th president of the United States,” Mr. Kirk said. “I want our leaders to care more about you and our fellow countrymen than some abstract idea or abstract G.D.P. number.”
Placing cultural aggrievement at the centerpiece of their midterm campaigns comes as Republicans find themselves split on a host of issues that have typically united the party.
On Capitol Hill, Republican senators are debating whether to release an official policy agenda at all ahead of the midterms. The lack of urgency was encapsulated in a statement by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, who dismissed a question about what Republicans would do if they took back Congress in 2022. “That is a very good question,” Mr. McConnell said. “And I’ll let you know when we take it back.”
In lieu of a united policy, Republicans are hoping that a grab bag of grievances will motivate voters who are dissatisfied with Mr. Biden’s administration. At CPAC, Republicans argued that they were the real victims of Mr. Biden’s America, citing rising inflation, undocumented immigration at the Mexican border and liberal institutions pushing racial diversity in hiring and education.
Every speaker emphasized personal connections to Mr. Trump, no matter how spurious, while others adopted both his aggrieved tone and patented hand gestures.
Speakers largely brushed off the war in Ukraine, beyond blaming Mr. Biden, and on Friday few people mentioned Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Mr. Biden’s new choice for the Supreme Court.
John Schnatter, the pizza magnate who in 2018 resigned as chairman of the Papa John’s franchise after using a racial slur in a comment about Black people during a conference call, mingled among the crowd, saying he was among those unfairly canceled. Senator Rick Scott of Florida warned of “woke, government-run everything.”
At CPAC, there was no shortage of stories about the horrors of cultural and political cancellations — though the speakers offered scant evidence of actual suffering.
Representative Jim Banks of Indiana, after saying he would “never, ever apologize for objecting” to Mr. Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, said he and Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio were victimized when they were removed from the House committee investigating that day’s attack on the United States Capitol in 2021.
“We both got canceled and kicked off the committee by Nancy Pelosi,” Mr. Banks said.
Regarding the unwoke, government hating liar and hypocrite Rick Scott, this is some of the introduction of his recently released 11 point plan to save America from the evil, radical socialist Democrats:
The militant left now controls the entire federal government, the news media, academia, Hollywood, and most corporate boardrooms – but they want more. They are redefining America and silencing their opponents.Among the things they plan to change or destroy are: American history, patriotism, border security, the nuclear family, gender, traditional morality, capitalism, social responsibility, opportunity, rugged individualism, Judeo-Christian values, dissent, free speech, color blindness, law enforcement, religious liberty, parental involvement in public schools, and private ownership of firearms.Is this the beginning of the end of America? Only if we allow it to be.The Biden Administration’s unprecedented combination of radical left-wing policies and gross incompetence is bringing great harm to the American people. Roaring inflation, the dangerous mismanagement of our border, the disastrous escalation of spending and debt, the shamefully inept withdrawal from Afghanistan, the use of public schools for left-wing indoctrination, and the incredible lawlessness on our streets… Americans are angry, and rightfully so.
I’ll warn you; this plan is not for the faint of heart.
It will be ridiculed by the ‘woke’ left, mocked by Washington insiders, and strike fear in the heart of some Republicans. At least I hope so.
It is clear that Republican Party elites with their radical fundamentalist Christian nationalism and radical laissez-faire capitalism have declared all-out culture war. So is any recognition of any the responsibility the Republican Party has for the messes it helped create and now complains bitterly of. They don't even pretend that policy is important or relevant. All that counts is power and wealth.
Self-proclaimed GOP elite victims are intent on overthrowing democracy, the rule of law, civil liberties and secular government, schools and society. They intend to replace all of with brutal fundamentalist Christian Sharia law and autocratic kleptocratic laissez-faire capitalism. Scott is right about one thing. The Republican plan for America is not for the faint of heart. It is brutal, cruel, intolerant and bigoted.
Oh yeah, to hell with Papa John's pizza. And papa John.
Republican lies and irrational
scare mongering
