The Republican Party, continuing to embrace Donald Trump's "big lie" that he really won the election -- except that it was stolen from him by millions of fraudulent voters -- will one day face a sad truth. Unless the GOP changes, and soon, it will become increasingly irrelevant in American politics.
They are already eating their own.
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Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), the third ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, is being excoriated by members of her party because she continues to challenge Trump's false election assertions. There are calls for her to be replaced as chair of the House Republican Conference, and Trump is vocally supporting those who are challenging her.
To her credit, Cheney refuses to back down and has challenged Trump's own declaration that the 2020 presidential election shall, henceforth, be known as "THE BIG LIE."
(Typical Trump. He's a master at turning things around; always has, probably always will. Just think "fake news." He was the original creator of false and misleading claims and then successfully labeled the legitimate news media "fake news" for calling him out. And that's why this blog was born. But that's another story.)
In Utah, Republicans disrespected their senior senator and former GOP presidential standard-bearer Sen. Mitt Romney by booing him and attempting to censure him for his vote in favor of Trump's impeachment conviction. Local Republicans called him a traitor.
On and on.
Polls continue to show that a majority of Republicans believe Trump's election lies, and he is showing no sign of fading into the woodwork. In fact, he is aggressively working to solidify his hold on the party that he successfully turned into his own personal political militia, replacing the GOP's long tradition of standing on principles with fealty to and support of Donald John Trump.
“Trump is still a very active part of our party,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) said in an Axios interview about the tension between Cheney and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). “This idea that you just disregard President Trump is not where we are.”
Across the land, in Republican state after Republican state, GOP lawmakers are enacting scores of new laws designed to restrict voting, many of those laws clearly intended to make it harder for voters who traditionally lean Democratic (i.e., African Americans) to vote. Texas. Georgia. Florida. On and on.
But now, in Florida, some Republicans are starting to worry that just maybe they've gone too far.
After all, some of the voting restrictions being imposed, such as limiting voting by mail, fly in the face of laws enacted by Republican-controlled legislatures in the past to expand voting by mail and absentee voting -- steps that have been credited with helping many GOP officeholders, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, to win their seats.
So, determined to pay homage to Trump and incur his favor, Florida Republicans could well be making it more difficult to win in future elections themselves. Sort of cutting off their nose to spite their face, as the old saying goes. All because they want to please Trump and his supporters.
Yes, the new census -- which Trump reportedly attempted to rig -- may well make it easier for Republicans to regain control of the House in 2022, and if that happens, Biden will have a rough final two years in his first term in office.
How all of that plays out in the years ahead, however, is an open question. I believe Republicans are digging a deep, deep hole by continuing to bow and scrape to Trump, and they will eventually pay the price for the sad truth that they have been conned by Donald J. Trump.
And then, there is this.
What happens to a political party that has become the personal property of a convicted felon?
Is that out of the question?
Just some food for thought.