Nothing’s changed.
CPAC is one of the highest-profile gatherings of conservatives in America.
Their keynote speaker is Hungary’s fascist autocrat, and their speeches are laced with violent rhetoric (see story here).
Republicans have talked up “civil war” for years. Rightwing mobs tried to shut down vote-counting in Detroit and Phoenix in November 2020, and a violent mob of Trumpers attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020.
This weekend in Dallas, Trump ally Steven Bannon told conferees, “We are at war,” and urged them to send “shock troops” to Washington D.C. to “shatter” the Democratic Party.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told the crowd, “It’s like the old Roman Colosseum where you slam on a breastplate and you grab a battle axe and you go fight the barbarians.”
At the grassroots, Republicans have bought and hoarded millions of military-grade weapons.
The Republican Party isn’t a political party anymore. They’re revolutionaries whose leaders plot to overturn election results, whose candidates run violence-themed campaign ads, whose influencers talk about military coups, and whose followers send death threats election workers, slam cars into protesters, and chant about “locking up” and “hanging” political opponents.
We’re still a long way from where responsible citizens can start voting for Republicans again, because they favor small government and business-friendly policies. This has nothing to do with that. The GOP today is led and dominated by people who are motivated by lies and conspiracy theories, are arming themselves, and running around saying, “We’re going to kill you.”
Our protection is laws, courts, police, and the power of our votes. We still have those, for now. It would be foolish to voluntarily give them up at the ballot box by voting for the very people who say they mean us harm.