The elephant in the room.

January 18, 2023

          The radicalization of the GOP is the elephant in the room of American politics. Most days, the media discusses the Republican Party as a legitimate participant in American democracy. It is not. Occasionally, the veneer of its respectability falls away, and we see it for what it is: An organization that uses violence and intimidation as political tools, has adopted deliberate falsehood as the lingua franca of politics, and peddles dangerous conspiracy theories to dupe, defraud, and incite its gullible base.

          On Tuesday, three stories collided in the news to remind us of the elephant in the room—the politically motivated shootings in New Mexico, Kevin McCarthy’s legitimization of George Santos by appointing him to two congressional committees, and the right-wing’s most recent lies about the COVID vaccine allegedly causing cardiac arrest. If the media was doing its job, it would rise in unison to say that the GOP is a terrorist organization masquerading as a major party in American politics. To be fair, some news organizations did raise the alarm on Tuesday, but most spent the day engaged in “whataboutism” over Joe Biden’s document gaffes—a development that is not even in the same galaxy as the GOP’s offenses on Tuesday.

          It is both aggravating and enervating to constantly call out the outrageous behavior of the Republican Party that threatens the foundations of our democracy. But failing to raise the alarm is even more dangerous. Part of the Republican strategy is to grind us into submission, to exhaust us, to disgust us to the point that we will look away. To preserve our mental health, we cannot—indeed, we must not—maintain a constant state of agitation over the GOP’s actions. But when circumstances warrant, we must tell friends, neighbors, and complete strangers, “This is not normal! As a nation, we are better than this. Our future depends on rising above the hate, lies, and ignorance that has become the stock in trade of the Republican Party.”

          To be clear, it is not enough to complain about the conduct of the GOP. We must take action to persuade others that the GOP’s actions are wrong and dangerous—and that anything less than active condemnation is complicity. Strong words, I know. But that is where we find ourselves on Tuesday evening. I wish it were otherwise.

          Let’s look at the latest developments as we continue our dedication to the truth and defense of democracy.

Failed GOP candidate for state legislature in New Mexico arrested for shooting at homes of Democratic officials.

          A failed GOP candidate for the New Mexico state legislature hired four accomplices to shoot at the homes of Democratic state and county officials. In at least one instance, the failed candidate pulled the trigger on a shot aimed at a residence. In that instance, a bullet passed through the bedroom of the daughter of a Democratic legislator. The alleged perpetrator, Solomon Pena, is a MAGA extremist who attended the Stop the Steal Rally on January 6th and followed Trump’s playbook by refusing to concede that he lost his bid to become a member of the New Mexico legislature. See Washington Post, Solomon Peña's plot to shoot Democrats' homes was motivated by false claims of a stolen election, New Mexico authorities say.

          Per the Post,

In an interview, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said he has no doubt that Peña was motivated by Trump’s false claims of election fraud following the former president’s 2020 defeat. Medina said Peña regularly expressed extreme views on social media and boasted of attending Trump’s Stop the Steal rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.

          On cue, Republicans in New Mexico expressed shock and dismay that someone would resort to violence in pursuit of a lunatic conspiracy theory about a stolen election—oblivious to the irony that Pena was following the GOP’s template established by Trump on January 6th. But belief in “rigged elections” has become part of Republican orthodoxy. A majority of the current House GOP caucus voted against the electoral slates of Arizona and Pennsylvania—as did GOP Speaker (McCarthy) and GOP Majority Leader (Scalise). When GOP congressional leaders are election deniers, it can be no surprise that the rank and file follows suit.

          Indeed, the belief that the 2022 midterms were “rigged” is rampant among Republicans. A CBS / YouGov poll taken last week shows that a whopping 72% of Republicans do not believe that Democrats “legitimately won control of the Senate in the midterms! (See page 71 of polling crosstabs.)

          Let’s reflect on that statistic for a moment. Nearly three-quarters of Republicans believe that the 2022 congressional midterms were rigged because Democrats retained control of the Senate. Nearly the same percentage of Republicans (76%) either approve of the insurrectionists’ actions on January 6th (15%) or do not want their congressional representatives to condemn the insurrectionists (61%).

          Pretending that Pena’s actions are “shocking” or “unexpected” is ridiculous. His actions are consistent with beliefs held by three-quarters of Republican voters. Pena’s actions align with the core beliefs of the Republican base. Unless and until Republican leaders condemn the January 6th insurrection and disabuse their followers of the notion that any Republican loss is evidence of a rigged election, we will get more of the same.

          Two weeks ago, a reader sent a note criticizing me for painting all Republicans with a broad brush of complicity in MAGA extremism. She pointed to the Republican Governor of Vermont, Phil Scott, who has opposed Trump for the last six years while he otherwise supports the Republican Party agenda. With respect and admiration for Governor Scott’s stance against Trump, Scott lends legitimacy to the Republican Party by remaining associated with a party whose members overwhelmingly support election denialism and support (or excuse) the violence of January 6th. As I wrote above, “anything less than active condemnation is complicity.”

          I expect to receive criticism and pushback from (some) readers on my strong position on this subject. But we would be having an entirely different conversation if the stray bullet that entered the bedroom of an 11-year-old girl had not missed but had instead killed her. We cannot afford to wait until the next violent attack by a MAGA supporter who is acting on beliefs widely shared in the Republican Party. Anyone and everyone who maintains their association with the GOP in hopes of saving or reforming it should leave the Party and let it fail. Anything less is to ignore the elephant in the room—the radicalization of the Republican Party.

Kevin McCarthy announces that George Santos will serve on two House committees.

          Most rational observers believe it is only a matter of time before Rep. George Santos is arrested on multiple crimes involving campaign finance fraud and (possibly) money laundering, securities fraud, immigration fraud, and identity theft. The lies that George Santos (formerly known as Anthony Devolder) has told are so numerous it is beyond the scope of this newsletter to catalog them. See generally, Talking Points Memo, The George Santos Revelations Just Keep Coming. The point is that Santos has told a LOT of lies—and admitted doing so. As a result, a growing number of GOP Republicans in the House have called on Santos to resign. See The Hill, These 7 House Republicans have called for George Santos to resign.

          One would think that an extensive history of electoral fraud would disqualify Santos from serving on House committees. But no, in today’s GOP, flagrant lying to the public, the Federal Elections Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Congress is not disqualifying. Despite Santos’ manifest unfitness to serve in Congress, Kevin McCarthy has appointed Santos to two committees. See Business Insider, GOP Rep. George Santos Will Serve House Committees on Small Business, Science.

          In appointing Santos to committees, McCarthy has again humiliated himself in his quest to serve as Speaker. In the process, he is further damaging the reputation of the GOP, proving that its pursuit of power trumps all else—including character, honesty, and respect for the American people. But McCarthy’s support for Santos may be more complicated than simple personal lust for power. There is evidence McCarthy knew of Santos’ lies before Santos was the GOP’s nominee—but did nothing to prevent the fraudster from running as a Republican. See Fox News, House Dems allege McCarthy, Stefanik and GOP leadership knew of George Santos 'web of lies' before election.

          No party that continues to support a proven fraud like Santos can claim to be a legitimate participant in our democracy. They don’t care about democracy or serving the American people; they care about power. George Santos proves that point beyond dispute.

The GOP’s latest round of vaccine denialism.

          Within minutes of Damar Hamlin suffering cardiac arrest during an NFL game, Republican conspiracy theorists began promoting the baseless claim that athletes are suffering from cardiac arrest because of COVID vaccinations. Tucker Carlson prominently featured that theory last week based on a letter sent by a doctor to a medical journal. The letter made wild claims based on fraudulent and misleading assertions. But that didn’t stop Carlson from claiming that more athletes had suffered from cardiac arrests this year than in the previous thirty-eight years combined. See Forbes, Have More Athletes Died Suddenly Since Covid-19 Vaccines Arrived? Such Claims Lack Evidence. (Carlson went on to claim, “Since the vax campaign began, there have been more than 1,500 total cardiac arrests in [European sports] leagues and two-thirds of those were fatal.”)

          Dr. Katelyn Jetelina has published a highly informative essay on her blog that addresses the claims being promoted by Tucker Carlson and the right-wing media ecosystem. I strongly recommend that readers take the time to review Jetelina’s article. See Katelyn Jetelina, Your Local Epidemiologist, COVID-19 vaccines and sudden deaths: Separating fact from fiction (substack.com).

          Jetelina’s article is a deep dive into all of the disinformation that is circulating about sudden cardiac arrest and Covid vaccines. Here is an example of her analysis in which she addresses the disinformation repeated on Tucker Carlson’s show about allegedly high rates of deaths among athletes from Covid vaccinations:

In particular, one incorrect statistic was quickly circulated on social media: more athletes died in the last year than have died in the last 38 years. 

Where did this statistic come from? After digging, it surfaced that this came from a published letter by Peter McCullough in which he compared sudden cardiac deaths (SCD) in athletes from two data sets from two time periods. This study design can work in epidemiology; however, it has to be done very carefully to make sure we compare apples to apples. McCullough did not do it carefully and compared oranges to apples: compared young vs. old, compared different definitions of SCD, included people who didn’t even die from SCD in the first place, included some people who weren’t athletes, and included some people who didn’t even die. 

          There is much more in the article along the same lines, but you get the point: the alleged “studies” on which Carlson is basing his disinformation are shoddy to the point of being junk science. Including people who didn’t die in a study of alleged cardiac deaths due to Covid vaccines suggests intentional misrepresentation, not merely gross negligence. But that didn’t stop Tucker Carlson from basing his segment on that shoddy study.

          But the damage is done. Republicans who get their news only from Fox will not be vaccinated because they wrongly believe that the vaccine causes an increase in sudden cardiac deaths. It does not. Indeed, the reverse is true. Being infected with Covid raises the risk of myocardial infarctions, heart arrhythmias, and myocarditis as compared to those side-effects after being vaccinated. See New England Journal of Medicine, Safety of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine in a Nationwide Setting.

          Based on the junk science promoted by Tucker Carlson and the GOP, the omnibus spending bill passed in December contained a provision eliminating the mandatory Covid vaccination for members of the US military. As a result, based on peer-reviewed studies in reputable medical journals, more service members will suffer myocardial infarctions, heart arrhythmias, and myocarditis than if they had been vaccinated.

          Why does the GOP promote junk science and conspiracy theories? To win votes. They know that a large portion of the electorate is susceptible to misinformation and cognitive biases about vaccines. The GOP wants to reinforce those mistaken beliefs to win votes—even if that means killing some of those voters by spreading misinformation.

          No political party that is willing to kill members of its base to gain votes can be treated as a legitimate participant in our democracy. And yet, tomorrow, the media will report on Kevin McCarthy’s latest machinations as if he is just another politician who represents one side of the political spectrum in a divided electorate. Nothing could be further from the truth about McCarthy or the GOP. The radicalization of the GOP is the biggest threat facing our democracy today.

          That is the story that the media should report on every single day until the threat no longer exists. It is the elephant in the room. But the media will not report on that threat because a journalist will get 15 seconds of air time to ask a question about Joe Biden’s delay in conducting a search for documents that he voluntarily returned to the federal government.

Concluding Thoughts.

          Some readers may feel despair over the above description of the GOP. Don’t. Instead, you should feel pride over the fact that the Democratic Party has taken the side of truth and integrity—and beat the GOP in a hotly contested midterm election. Of course, we all wish that the midterm victory had been more decisive, but we can’t overlook what we accomplished because we want more.

          Over time, stories like Solomon Pena’s resort to violence because of election denialism will catch up with the GOP. Tonight, the people of New Mexico are looking at themselves in the mirror and asking, “Is this who we have become? Is this worth humoring and ignoring the crazies in our party who espouse wild conspiracy theories?”

          I have faith that the people of New Mexico (and America) do not want to live in a nation where the children of politicians cannot sleep safely in their rooms after an election. If we want an America where the families of politicians are safe, we must acknowledge that the radicalized GOP is the greatest threat to our nation’s peace and security. When we do that, it will be the first step to recovery. And it would be tremendously helpful if the loudest voices are coming from those who are quitting a party that is beyond redemption.

          Talk to you tomorrow!