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Conspiracy Theories and Trump Legacy Divide the Republican Party

2021-02-04T16:13:05.496Z


The House of Representatives votes this Thursday to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from responsibility for her lies after the inaction of the Republican leadership.


By Sahil Kapur and Jonathan Allen - NBC News

Caught in infighting over the future of their leadership in Congress, Republicans are divided on how to deal with the rise in extremism and the influence of former President Donald Trump in their ranks.

A pair of conflicting controversies are pushing Republicans apart and forcing their leaders to choose sides, with great risks for the future of the party.

[Four lies promoted by Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene]

"It's not about a member. It's about what we stand for and whether we want to be a serious party in the future," said Republican consultant Brendan Buck, a former adviser to the party's last two spokesmen in the House of Representatives.

One of the controversies focuses on Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is facing mounting criticism for raising calls for violence against Democrats on social media and for defending grotesque theories that the terrorist attacks of September 11 September 2001 and the Parkland school shooting in 2018 were setups.

The other focuses on Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney, the third House Republican who lashed out at Trump and voted for his impeachment last month.

Wyoming Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney attends a memorial service for Brian Sicknick, the Capitol Police officer who died after the Jan.6 assault.

AP

In parallel tracks, calls for Greene's ouster and Cheney's removal from the leadership have intensified in recent days, reaching a critical point during a meeting Wednesday night during the Republican House conference.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he did not plan to oust Greene from his committees.

The caucus then voted 145-61 to keep Cheney in the lead, an uneven vote that suggests some disenchantment with Trump.

The confrontation with Greene, who has been raising money from the controversy and has refused to publicly apologize, has put McCarthy in a bind.

And it is unlikely to go away, as the Democratic-led House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a resolution Thursday to remove Greene from the Education and Labor Committee and the Budget Committee.

[What is QAnon, the group to which the 'Yellowstone Wolf' that stormed the Capitol belongs]

It's not just Democrats who say Greene is a problem.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, issued an unusual statement Monday condemning Greene for upholding "wild lies and conspiracy theories" that he claimed were "cancer for the Republican party and our country".

At the same time, McConnell praised Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, as an important party leader.

A former adviser to the Republican leadership called McConnell's comment "instructive for McCarthy" in taking clear positions.

Mitch McConnell Publicly Condemns the Lies of Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene

Feb. 2, 202100: 26

"Instead, McCarthy is letting House Republicans bleed out every day this continues," the former adviser said on condition of anonymity to avoid trouble with McCarthy.

McCarthy is being watched closely in all corners of the party, and will set a precedent for radical figures who may be thinking about running for office.

[Democrats will vote to punish Marjorie Taylor Greene after Republican inaction]

"The House GOP seems to only care about what's good for winning a primary, and McConnell is trying to win back the majority," Buck said.

"We can't win back college-educated suburban voters without making it clear that this is not a party of conspiracy theorists and crazies."

Greene claims to have Trump's support.

He has become the face of the party's so-called QAnon group, which includes supporters promoting conspiracy theories that Trump has taken on Democrats and celebrities who engaged in child sex trafficking.

[Impeachment prosecutors accuse Trump of offenses "unmistakable" and "of historic proportions"]

She claimed Wednesday that she is being victimized because of her identity as white, Christian and conservative, among other things.

Dan Eberhart, a major Republican donor said: "Republican leaders follow their voters, not the other way around, and the grassroots are not yet there to throw Trump overboard. The Republican party is no longer run by Washington's elites. It's run by grassroots activists at the state level, and they're not listening to Washington. They are listening to people like Representative Greene. "

["A Cancer for the Republican Party": McConnell Condemns the "Crazy Lies" of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene]

McConnell told reporters Tuesday that he wants to distance Greene from the rest of the party.

"Yesterday I spoke about that particular new member of the House. And I think I spoke appropriately about how I feel about any effort to define the Republican party in that way," he said.

"I think that shows my opinion on that," McConnell said.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2021-02-04

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