Look, this isn’t my idea, and I didn’t choose that word, nor is this new.
Over 15 years ago, in 2007 to be exact, Huffington Post published an essay titled, “Cannibals on the Right: Republicans Eating Their Own.” Sample quote:
“Then the Republican ‘you eat me, than I eat you’ tit-for-tat started in earnest. Former Reason speech-writer Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal that ‘This White House thinks its base is stupid.'”
That was back when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was still telling bigots to “shut up,” which now seems like a very long time ago. (Read the full essay here).
Since then, there have been plenty more examples of Republican cannibalism, most recently Trump going after any Republican who opposes, criticizes, or votes to impeach him. When your whole program is revenge-seeking, and you’re nonpartisan about it, the enterprise is bound to acquire a cannibalistic flavor.
But my favorite example came up today, Wednesday, August 17, 2022. A Huffington Post story says (here),
“A Republican primary challenger to Rep. Matt Gaetz has released an attack ad suggesting the Florida congressman tipped off the FBI about potentially classified documents stored at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach.”
That’s vicious; there’s no other word for it. Gaetz’s primary opponent, Mark Lombardo, could have run ads calling him a sex trafficker of underage girls, for which there’s at least tenuous evidence, but instead baselessly called him a rat, knowing full well this could get him killed.
Which raises this question: If Lombardo defeats Gaetz in Florida’s 1st congressional district GOP primary next Tuesday, August 23, will he celebrate with a bottle of ketchup?