Last week, the Republican National Committee censured Representatives Adam Kinzinger (Illinois) and Liz Cheney (Wyoming) for serving on the January 6th Select Committee. Then they went even further by calling the January 6th insurrection "legitimate political discourse". This is ridiculous of course. Violence, attacking the police, and desecrating our Capitol Building is never legitimate political discourse in a democracy.
There was some blowback to this from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. He condemned the censure of Kinzinger and Cheney, and called the January 6th riot an attempt to overthrow a legitimate election. He was joined by a few other GOP senators. Is this a sign that the Republican Party is starting to return to sensibility?
Sadly NO! None of the senators who criticized the RNC action are up for re-election this year. If they had been, they would likely have remained silent, like the senators who are running a re-election campaign. And these few senators do not represent the feelings of the Republican base.
It is the RNC that represents the feeling of the GOP base. They were chosen by the base and live in the communities. They know what the base is thinking, and they act on that. And the base is still engaged in supporting Trump, and his Big Lie.
Trump continues to claim that he actually won the 2020 election by a landslide, but it was stolen from him through massive fraud. It's not even remotely true, and one might wonder why he continues pushing the Big Lie. The reason, of course, is because of his narcissism. The narcissism won't let him admit that he is a loser -- even though he clearly lost. He can't stand the thought of being a loser, and will go to any lengths to portray himself differently.
But why is the GOP base going along with the Big Lie? Most of them have to know, even if they won't admit it, that is it a lie. Why continue the charade?
The sad truth is that Trump made them feel that their vile shortcomings were socially acceptable, and they don't want to give that up. Trump was a very flawed person -- a misogynist, a racist, a homophobe, and an immigrant-hater. And so are his supporters. His being president, with all those flaws, made them believe that their own similar flaws were acceptable, and maybe even the way things should be.
They support Trump and his big lie, because doing otherwise would be to admit they are wrong in their own vile beliefs. Hillary Clinton called them "deplorables". She was right!
