‘Hypocritical’ GOP ‘Wrapping Themselves in Flags’ While Supporting Trump
Trump supporters denounced, across the spectrum, as "anti-American."
A number of congressional Republicans skipped last week's vote in the House of Representatives on approving the creation of a select committee to investigate the violent insurrection at the US Capitol Building in order to take part in a political event at the southern border designed to embarrass President Biden.
And, for a growing number of observers and elected officials across the political spectrum, it's just another display of hypocrisy and a frightening lack of commitment to democracy on the part of the contemporary Republican Party.
Too many current Republicans have gone all-in for servitude to former president Donald Trump, his brand of authoritarianism and his “Big Lie,” which is his baseless, false accusations that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him due to massive fraud.
“You know, I think they have chosen to put all their stakes and all their eggs in the basket of Trump. Worship at the altar of Trump. You know, it’s so hypocritical, and really, it’s so unseemly and unstatesmanlike,” said Ana Navarro, a CNN commentator who has been a “Never Trumper” Republican strategist. “Today I was really trying not to have my eyes roll to the back of my head as I read posts from some of these same GOP elected officials who voted against the bipartisan commission threatening our democracy. An insurrection against the peaceful transfer of power, which is such a key part of our Constitution and our government and our democracy.
“And yet, here they are wrapping themselves in flags, putting up pictures of the Statue of Liberty and wishing everybody a happy Fourth of July. If you want to stand up for what this country stands for, stand up for democracy. And denounce what happened on Jan. 6,” Navarro added. “Don’t go to the border and even avoid a vote. I can’t think of anything more cowardly and hypocritical than what happened this week.”
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), a former US Navy helicopter pilot and one-time federal prosecutor, agreed.
“What is so shocking is how anti-American the sentiments of the Trump loyalists have really become. We see this continued even in Congress when members of Congress are trying to whitewash the event of January 6, the worst attack on our nation’s Capitol,” said Sherrill. “We have everything domestically by citizens of this country. Especially as we are sitting here on the Fourth of July and thinking back to our forefathers and the values enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the lives lost.”
Republicans in the Senate already scuttled the creation of an independent, bipartisan commission to study the events of January 6, in which violent backers of Trump overran the Capitol and sought to overturn the legitimate certification of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.
Fealty to one man — in this case, Donald Trump — in particular ought to be particularly distasteful in a democracy, according to Laura Coates, a legal analyst at CNN.
"I mean, something about democracy should make the idea of kissing a ring distasteful to people. I mean, it really should. And also, The Washington Post is reporting that, in almost every swing state, someone is running for secretary of state, who has been pushing the big lie or even was at the insurrection,” Coates said. “I mean, our democracy survived the 2020 election because of state officials who do value the rule of law. But what happens when those people are gone?”
The Republican Party as it exists today must be eliminated before it can be rebuilt, from the ground up, according to Republican strategist Susan del Percio.
“It needs to burn down. It literally needs to be demolished before you can go in and build it up again. And the people who actually say ‘Please stay a Republican’ are Democrats who like to say, ‘Let’s argue about tax policy,’ because they know you need a strong Republican Party,” del Percio said. “Right now it’s not strong, but it needs — it really does need to be burned down to the ground so it can come back up. But that also means there has to be people willing to keep their Republican credentials to be there when it’s time to build it up.”