A Republican Party split into fictions

I woke up this morning in a sweat. I dreamed that I had merely embraced Marjorie Taylor Greene in public and might be charged with bad taste and worse judgment. It’s probably a felony. When, in the dream, I said, “I love you,” she cried “liar” as if I were President Biden. She was right that I lied.

Fortunately, it was only a nightmare, not real. I hope by nightfall the tremors will have subsided, but they probably won’t disappear immediately. I wasn’t there first. The Republican Party has, in fact, embraced Greene, and her uniquely named buddies Boebert, Gaetz, and Gosar. They are called right-wing Republicans and Kevin McCarthy provided them with status and celebrity, kissing up to them on his way to a compromised speakership. They are not really Republicans, at least not like those I know. Greene, Boebert, Gaetz, and Gosar have had the benefit of a polite society. We are taught not to call people names like fascist, pig, creepy, loony-bird.

But in our pursuit of the truth, Greene and her buddies need to be accurately described: bigots, a lynch mob, anti-Semites, homophobes. Calling them fascists is far more accurate than calling them far-right Republicans. I think for the good of their party and for the good of our country, we must. Gosar is the poster boy for what is befouling the political atmosphere. He was censured in 2021 by the House “and stripped of committee assignments for posting an animated video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.” Here’s a news report, “ … Gosar has sparked controversy for embracing conspiracy theories and associating himself with anti-Semites, white supremacists and neo-Nazis.” He is no more a Republican than I am.

That hate he shows is worse than COVID. It spreads rapidly and is harder to cure. In Oklahoma, for example, a candidate for the Legislature, an unsuccessful one fortunately, has said that LGBTQ people are worthy of death. Citing the Bible he proclaimed, “We would be totally in the right to stone them.” He must have been inspired by Iran and Afghanistan, the only countries that still do. He was beaten by a candidate who is for abolishing separation of church and state.

I realize that I don’t have a huge responsibility to help the Republican Party get back to reason and responsibility in the House and outside it. But I do worry about what it means for all of us in the 2024 presidential race. In mid-February, a poll by the Pew Center, Donald Trump led a field of 14 potential candidates. He got 43 percent of the vote. Ron DeSantis was right there as well at 36 percent. Nikki Halley, a responsible human, former governor and our representative to the United Nations got 5 percent.

In the 1950s with Dwight Eisenhower as president, the Republican Party had the courage to censure Sen. Joe McCarthy. I don’t expect that kind of courage today when Donald Trump leads the pack and Kevin McCarthy elevates mini-McCarthys.

In all of this, there is a compelling question for our congressional delegation: where do you stand? Do you embrace Greene and Gosar? Tell us.

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s press secretary.