Time to Stop Playing Nice and Expose These Fake Republicans

Time to stop playing nice: Americans need to be blunt and expose these fake Republicans. There is no “Republican Party” in the 21st century. The “Grand Old Party,” the “Party of Lincoln,” imploded more than a decade ago and will never return. When you watch Moscow Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), or any other man or woman who calls his or herself a Republican, speak to the television cameras, be aware that this is their first lie, and anything they say will be more lies.

Founded in 1854, the original Republican Party supported voting rights, protecting our environment, human rights, protecting the rights of America’s indigenous people, and controlled government spending. Attached is the Republican Party platform of 1860. You will see no resemblance to the pretenders of today.

Today’s Republicans have no platform. They serve their masters and embrace racism, bigotry, and misogyny. Nothing proves this more than the travesty called “confirmation hearings for President Biden’s nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States of America.” What happened on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week displayed the full support and acceptance of racism within an entire political party.

Unable to find legitimate reasons to attack Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s record, each Republican Senator took turns attempting to attack her personal beliefs. “The truth lives here,” and the truth is that all Republicans plan to reject her nomination for a single reason: she is an intelligent, qualified, Black woman.

In October 2020, every Republican hastily confirmed Amy Coney Barrett without asking one “tough” question and was aware that she is a Catholic extremist. She is a white woman.

Republicans, all 50, are united but for the wrong reasons. They continue to fail the American people by voting against issues that would positively affect the majority. All 50 have become the enemies of the American people.

These fake Republicans voted against voting rights, women’s rights, and expanded childcare credits for working parents. They eagerly voted for tax cuts for the super-rich and large corporations. They have chosen to rule over us, not to serve all Americans.

Not that these fake Republicans care, but public opinion is heavily in favor of confirming Judge Jackson. I suggest that you choose not to vote for any “Republican” in their next election if they vote against a very qualified woman.

Republicans offer multiple and confusing complaints about Judge Jackson. These same 50 bigots eagerly supported Neil Gorsuch, a man whose only qualification was supporting the repeal of Roe v Wade, Brett Kavanaugh, a confirmed sexual predator, and Amy Coney Barrett, who places her religious beliefs ahead of the rule of law.

All 50 of these hypocrites must no longer be allowed to call themselves “Republicans.” As an Independent, I honestly miss the Grand Old Party. My only choice at the polls today is to vote for a Democrat or an occasional Independent. One entire party has been eliminated because they no longer exist.

You might ask when this all began. The beginning of the end for the GOP can be attributed to the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan. His support of the wealthy and choice to accept Christianity as our nation’s one true religion took the path of the Republican Party in a new direction. In 2010, a new party emerged. Bought, paid for, and created by billionaires, the extremist “TEA Party” infiltrated the right-wing. Later came the “Freedom Caucus.” These extremists moved the party so far to the right our government is completely dysfunctional and cannot be repaired.

Only by removing every man and woman who calls themselves “Republican” today and replacing them with younger, more diverse women and men can our government be rebuilt into a functioning, democratic entity.

Op-ed by James Turnage

Sources:

Mother Jones: The KBJ Hearings Were the Super Bowl of Republican Shitposting; by Tim Murphy
Newsweek: Reaction Rolls in as Republicans Say They’ll Vote No on Jackson; Patricia McKnight
The American Yawp Reader: “Republican Party Platform of 1860,” May 17, 1860. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Gage Skidmore’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image by Andrea Hanks Courtesy of Trump White House Archive’s Flickr Page – Public Domain License