Legitimate Political Discourse?

On Friday morning, February 4, 2022, a report from CNN surfaced detailing the GOP’s plan to censure Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois) over their participation with the January 6 committee. Some members within the Republican caucus dictated the two representatives have “crossed the line,” while other RNC committee members were far more explicit in their motivations, putting it simply, “This is about them helping [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi.”

Reading the headlines, your response could run in two directions. If you find yourself in the first group, whooping and hollering could be your preferred mode of expressing your emotions, shouting from the rooftops, “Ding dong! The witch is dead!” To you, this is a great day to be a member of the Grand Ole Party, turning the page and forging a new terrain for the sake of MAGA nation and upright conservatism. The old has-beens are gone, and the new patriots have won the day. 2022 looks bold and bright with election fraud in the rear view and Donny T creeping around the corner to take back his residence on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

 

Now for the second group. You might have read the previous paragraph in complete shock, mouth agape, and cheeks flustered in the frustration over the last 48 hours. Your ideological identity is amid a crisis. After scrolling through your Twitter feed with more ferocity than recent memory, every viral Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, and Charlie Kirk tweet eats into your conservative soul a little more. 

 

Hope seems lost. To give another Oz reference, you’re tiptoeing along the yellow brick road in trepidation and fear that you might be the next one censure or cancelled by the Old Witches from Kentucky and California. And yet, 2022 is on the horizon. You’re holding out to see whether the young bucks donning the Elephant and Crimson will care more about policy than public relations.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the current state of the Republican Party. Can you believe it? A mere seven years ago, when the Orange Man scaled down his escalator, no one knew that GOP leadership would later swear by his graces and cancel anyone who crossed his path, much less after an insurrection of all things. Fourteen months ago, no one knew what the word meant, and now it’s a part of normal vocabulary due to the vicious back and forth debate between the upholders of democracy and slaves to the patriot rhythm. 

 

There tends to be the belief that Republicans are held against their will forced pick a side. The new establishment will say if you rode with Reagan, Bush (twice), Dole, McCain, and Romney in past presidential elections, there is no choice but to keep on chugging along the Trump train. If you refuse, prepare for a face full of dust. In many ways, they are right. After the censure resolution to Cheney and Kinzinger, the Never Trump voices are turning into pundits faster than bandwagon Chiefs fans are switching into their Bengals gear before next week’s Super Bowl. 

 

It no longer matters how red one’s voting record is. If they remain firm on border security, gun rights, low taxes, and privatized health care but stand pat on attending MAGA rallies and trust vote totals of an election that ended over a year ago, the only outcome is a lonely trip to the sandbox. Polls will show that Trump dependency in the GOP is dwindling, but the mark he has made is one that bleeds misinformation and lack of trust in established governmental institutions. Trump is 75, but Marjorie Taylor Greene is 47. Matt Gaetz is 39, and North Carolina’s finest, Madison Cawthorn, is 26.

 

It will take years of campaigning, tens of millions of dollars in donations, and scores of formidable primary opponents to overturn the current image of the Republican caucus. Cheney and Kinzinger seemed like worthy candidates to lead that charge, but now that their voices are tongue-tied, it will require a new batch of representatives to face off against their fellow Republican members to win back a party that will embrace the true meaning of truth, honesty, fairness, and liberty.

 

Until then, I guess we’ll have to sit back, grab a bag of popcorn, clench our fists, hold back our tears, and watch the show.