They’re rare these days, but they still exist.
Christina Loren works for RSBN, a rightwing media company (details here). At a Trump rally in Saginaw, Michigan, she interviewed a flag shop owner.
She told the man, who was wearing a Trump hat, he’s “selling something that we can all appreciate, the American flag.” Then she said, “Tell me about how it’s become a symbol of the Republican Party. To be honest … you typically don’t associate that with the Democrats.”
That jibe spiraled down in flames when he shot back on camera, “we have a lot of Democrat customers.” He continued, “I have a lot of them that buy the U.S. flag from me … and I’m proud to sell it to them.”
He then added, “And you know, they have their own beliefs on everything, and that’s fine. That’s why we live in this country, so we can have the freedoms to believe in what we want to.” (See story, with embedded video, here.)
A reasonable Republican! This is how it should be done. You treat your neighbors in a civil manner, respect their right to their opinions, and don’t pour gasoline on the partisan fires.
But undeterred, and determined to stir the pot, Loren said Democrats “who don’t want to be here” should “leave the country.”
If I could have a conversation with this lady, it would go like this: “This isn’t your country, it’s our country. You don’t get to decide who can live here. That flag isn’t yours, nor is it a GOP banner; it represents all of us. One more thing: This man just showed you how a Republican can be reasonable. You should try practicing it sometime.”
This “if you don’t like it here, leave” rhetoric is standard, non-original, rightwing bloviating. It’s pretty arrogant, if you ask me. Sorry, but I like it here. I don’t agree with them on many things, but wouldn’t ask them to leave the country. We should all respect others’ right to their opinions.