Grifters and leaders

by | Apr 29, 2022 | Editor's Blog | 1 comment

The Republican establishment is finally fighting back. The ferocity with which Senator Thom Tillis is going after Madison Cawthorn is impressive. Tillis is leveling a no-holds barred attack on the Congressman from the 11th district using a SuperPAC to attack him and calling for an ethics investigation on him. Tillis may be leading the effort, but his actions come on the heels of House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger endorsing one of Cawthorn’s opponents, Chuck Edwards.

Nationally, conservatives are coming out against Cawthorn, too. The conservative National Review Online this morning has an article titled “Madison Cawthorn’s Primary Opponent Is Everything Cawthorn Isn’t” that says voters will choose between a “a serious legislator” and “a healine grabbing neophyte.” The article goes on to quote Speaker Tim Moore calling Cawthorn a “clown.” 

I’m glad to see it. The barrage comes just as Cawthorn is heading into a primary with a series of bad headlines that range from carrying a gun into the Charlotte airport to the salacious accusations that he’s been lavishing gifts on a male aide. An article in the Daily Mail has photos of the aide’s hand on Cawthorn’s crotch and says the two live together. Of course, being gay is only a liability for Republicans, but Cawthorn has called himself straight so, again, it’s the hypocrisy. Between the self-inflicted wounds and attacks by his fellow Republicans,  Cawthorn’s last two weeks of the primary are going to be rough. 

I want to make two points about what’s happening, one about Cawthorn and one about Tillis. 

First, Cawthorn. I’m glad to see so many of fellow Republicans go after him, but they need to realize that Cawthorn is a symptom, not the problem. He’s a product of a GOP base that lives in an alternative reality that is creating false fears and real monsters. The fears are based on disinformation and misinformation promoted by a right-wing media ecosystem that tells its uneducated and unsophisticated followers that they are under threat of extinction by liberals and Democrats. They’ve exploited a whole segment of the population that lacks critical thinking skills and is easily manipulated by conmen like Donald Trump and Cawthorn. 

These people live in a reality where, as Kellyanne Conway called them, “alternative facts” drive their beliefs. In their world, Donald Trump had the largest inauguration in history. There’s a massive group of powerful people who sexually abuse and traffic children and it’s covered up by Democrats. Voter fraud is rampant and the election was stolen by Democrats who have been voting illegally and manipulated election results for decades. 

These voters, who make up a majority of the Republican base, believe the bunk that Madison Cawthorn is peddling because nobody in the Republican Party has called them out. The GOP leaders have been silent because they benefited from the lies and disinformation. It’s similar to what happened salong racial lines for decades. A large number of white working class voters were motivated by racial dog whistles, like the Helms hands ad and Willie Horton, but Republican leaders either denied they were racists or sat silent because they benefited. 

Republicans might be able to defeat Madison Cawthorn in the primary this year, but the forces that created him are still dominant in the GOP. Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and a host of other conspiracy theorists and grifters are still there. Donald Trump is still the front-runner for the GOP nomination in 2024. The values of Ronald Reagan are in retreat and the forces of reaction are ascendant. Republicans need to change that trend if they want to prevent more Cawthorns. 

On Tillis, I want to applaud is efforts. He’s taken his victory in 2020 to become more humble instead of more arrogant. Not only has he become the face of the anti-Cawthorn forces, he’s working with Democratic Senator Dick Durbin to pass immigration reform. If they can get something through the Senate, it would be a landmark piece of legislation and a sign that our government might be beginning to function again. It’s a long shot, but If it passes, that would mark two significant pieces of legislation in less than two years. The infrastructure bill that passed in 2021 had eluded presidents and Congresses for more than a decade. 

I don’t ever expect to agree with Tillis on much, but right now, our country in crisis. On the one hand, we have a party that’s been taken over by grifters and the cowards that enable them. On the other, we’ve got a dysfunctional Congress that has been hell bent on preventing legislation instead of passing it and it’s added significantly the division within our country. If Tillis is willing to call out the bad elements in his own party and work with people in the other one to move the country forward, I want to give him credit where credit is due. 

1 Comment

  1. cocodog

    Fast food worker to a member of congress in what could be described as overnight may have been too traumatic for Madison to manage. Put the zap on his mind, causing him to engage in bazaar conduct like attempting (twice) to bring a loaded firearm on a commercial aircraft and dressing in clothing that his voters may find offensive may open the door to some sort of injury claim. Good luck in finding somebody to represent him. Republican voters especially those found in his voting district would vote for a twice impeached, porn star dating senior citizen who has issues with the truth and occasional memory lapses, but I doubt they would for Madison.

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