To borrow a line from satirical song writer, and former Harvard math professor Tom Lehrer, the few objective Republicans left who are not part of the Trump MAGA cult must be feeling “like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis.”
Sadly, those remaining members of the GOP who put America before extremist politics realize that those in the cult are leaving the party with nowhere to go after sticking with a criminally-indicted sexual predator ex-president who lies, cheats and puts his own narrow greedy interests before a nation he swore to support and protect but pilfered the treasury to support his debt-ridden lifestyle.
As a one-time GOP political operative, I saw the start of the party’s departure from reality and truth in 1994, when Georgia congressman/grifter Newt Gingrich sold a pack of lies called a “Contract With America” that put the party into power in Congress and gave him a Speakership that he used to turn the legislative body into a greedy clan of hucksters, liars, frauds and criminals.
Gingrich took the floor of the House to rant and rave about then-president Bill Clinton using the office as a “sex den” with intern Monica Lewinsky while he was nailing a committee staff member behind his wife’s back. He also violated House rules in a scheme to profit with a poorly-written and ghosted book that lined his pockets.
After a short, ill-conceived sabbatical from newspapers to work for Congress and see how it worked, I walked away form politics in 1994, joined Alcoholics Anonymous and returned to reporting and news photography. I celebrated 29 years of sobriety in June and continue to investigate and expose frauds like Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich, Kevin McCarthy, Marjorie Taylor-Greene and other members of a cult where MAGA really means “Malicious Anti-American Grifting Agitators.”
We see the GOP at work here in Floyd County, where the party of the drunken elephant used a caucus stunt that prevented most residents from voting so they could oust Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Branscom after a record of putting the law before GOP desires.
On the plus side, laughable state representative Marie March was thrown out of office in a special primary that put her against Wren Williams after their districts were thrown together. That’s a small win. The county board of supervisors has a couple of tea party expatriates now that want to censor books in our libraries, keep honest discussions about race and gender equality out of our schools and drag the county back into the dark ages.
On the national level. criminal con man Trump leads polls and could win the GOP nomination to be the Republican candidate for president in 2024, with 37 percent of hardcore right-wingers in the party ramming partisan noses up his flabby where the sun don’t shine and it stinks . That percentage is down from a nigh of 43% not that long ago but still shows that common sense and true patriotism took a hike within the GOP.
If he wins the nomination, Trump will face Joe Biden, the current president who beat him soundly in 2020. Trump was indicted (again) Tuesday, this time for running a three-pong set of illicit criminal acts to defraud the government, lie repeatedly with disproven claims that he won that election and conspired with six co-conspirators in a treasonous act against the Constitution, democracy and America.
You see other conspirators right here in Floyd County with Trump signs in their front yards, on bumper stickers and sitting in leadership chairs on political and governing bodies.
And, yeah, some of them are feeling like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis. Such stupidity could kill them and this nation.