The GOP has been taken over by white supremacists, conspiracy mongers, and insurrectionists.

[Nevilledog]

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Melissa Ryan
@MelissaRyan
The GOP has been taken over by white supremacists, conspiracy mongers, and insurrectionists. State and local politics are ground zero for this radicalization. I wrote an article on what that looks like for @theprogressive's April/May issue.

The Enemy Within
State and local Republican parties have been taken over by white supremacists, conspiracy mongers, and insurrectionists.
progressive.org
9:17 AM · Apr 20, 2021

https://progressive.org/magazine/the-enemy-within-ryan/

In September 2020, just one month before thirteen men with militia ties were charged with an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the majority leader of the Michigan senate, Mike Shirkey, met with militia group leaders to advise them on messaging.

“I was in Lansing and members—the leaders, the so-called leaders—of three of the groups met in my office, and we talked about their messaging, their purpose, what they are trying to accomplish, and how they could improve their message,” Shirkey explained to a local radio host. “They’re not uniquely different than you and I. They bleed red, white, and blue, but they feel like they are not being heard.”

After members of one of the militias were charged in the Whitmer plot, Shirkey changed his tune, claiming he was just asking the militia leaders whether “they have codes of conduct, so they can hold themselves accountable and so the public can hold them accountable.”

In fact, Shirkey has multiple ties to militia groups in the state, as The New York Times reported. The paper found that Shirkey had been advising militia groups as early as April 2020 on the “optics” of coming armed to the #Reopen protests at the state’s capitol. Shirkey went on to speak at some events with the same groups, saying at one: “Stand up and test that assertion of authority by the government. We need you now more than ever.”

*snip*

[C_U_L8R]

1. But that's who they've always been.

As much as 'Connecticut republicans' pretend otherwise.

[Jerry2144]

2. Taken over?

They were taken over? They have always been those things. The difference is that they have now removed the ghost costumes or whatever those white sheets are called and have shown their true nature.

[Skittles]

3. LOL oh please

when a black man was elected president - TWICE, it was like a light being turned on and all the cockroaches scattering into view - they are now what they have ALWAYS BEEN

[Moostache]

4. When they TELL you what they are, believe them!

The GQP has been the home of racists and kooks since Goldwater in '64. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act put them on full display and they have remained the home of hateful bigots and opportunists ever since.

We do not need long dissertations to understand that the Republican "brand" is now simply overt racism, simplistic to non-existent plans for any kind of governing and as much lying as they can cram into a single statement.

They want "freedom"...unless that means a woman (NOT the state) has control over their own body.
They want "fiscal responsibility"...unless that means fair and equitable taxation across the entire economy.
They want "to protect children"...unless that would require bans on military weapons in civilian hands.

They are, were and ever shall be full of shit.

[Dave in VA]

5. The Dixiecrat Party

from the end of the Civil War through the 1960s moved to the Republican Party in 1968. The Republican establishment was fine with these racist voters as long as they were able to use them for their purposes.

The cancer of the Dixiecrats has now metastasized to the whole of the party.