Since the disastrous Unite The Right rally in the summer of 2017, conservative media and the Republican party has been in damage control. Far right groups, including neo-Nazis, the Klan and neo-Confederates united in Charlottesville. They were Trump supporters and those who had voted for Trump. Trump called them “very fine people” and equated the counter-protesters to the Nazis they had come to oppose. One of these very fine people plowed through a small crowd of anti-fascist protesters killing one of them and injuring many others.
A few Republicans demonstrated temporary integrity to denounce and condemn the violence and Trump’s remarks. Even some in conservative media showed a bit of integrity to do the same. Others couldn’t bring themselves to criticize Trump. These conservatives went into overdrive to defend Trump’s remarks and whitewash the violence of that day. Dennis Prager, perhaps one of the biggest defenders of Trump, and who runs Prager University, created a video in defense of Charlottesville, titled The Charlottesville Lie. The video claimed that the so-called biased liberal media had deliberately lied and taken Trump’s statement’s out of context to smear him, to make him look bad, that he had never called them fine people. The video was easily debunked.
Ever since, the Republican party has scrambled frantically, attempting to save face, to distance itself from the extremists in their party, their ranks, pretending as if there is no connection between neo-Nazis, white nationalists, the Klan, and neo-Confederates with the Republican party. And conservative media has been a willing participant in that denial, that obfuscation.
Some conservatives went a step further, into conspiracy territory. It wasn’t really the so-called Alt-right that was responsible for the violence. It was really the left. The left had not only organized and set up the event to make Trump look bad, but Obama and George Soros – the boogeyman of the totally non-anti-semitic conservative right – were also behind it. This theory was voiced by Rush Limburger and several prominent Republican politicians.
During her Face The Nation appearance, Ronna McDaniel demonstrated that “Democrat-Antifa Brain Rot” is a fairly new disorder among Republicans, similar to Derangement Syndrome. Derangement Syndrome is an irrational hatred of everything someone says or does. With Republicans Democrat-Antifa Brain Rot is the insatiable urge to blame everything bad on Democrats. Cancel culture, racism, violence, and anti-Semitism, it’s all the fault of the Democrats, and their allies, Antifa and BLM.
Margret Brennan asked her how damaging the events of January 06 were to the Republican party.
McDaniel: “They were damaging to our country. I think it was horrific what happened. There is no American, Republican or Democrat, who looks at that and sees our Capitol attacked and feels good. And I think there’s a lot of self-reflection that has to go on across the whole country.”
What happened at the Capitol was not just “damaging to our country,” it was damaging to the Republican party. It put the Republican party in a bad light. It made the Republican party look anti-Democratic. If this had been Joe Biden claiming that the Republicans had rigged the election, had sued certain states to stop the vote counting, had his lawyers and supporters putting on televised clown shows disguised as press conferences, all which culminated in encouraging his supporters to march down to the Capitol to fight for him to stop the electoral certification of Trump, and do what they did… how would Republicans, Fox News, Newsmax, and OANN have reacted? They would have lost their shit. They would have been calling the Democrats the party of treason, they would have been calling for televised public executions of the Democrats, just as some of the assholes did with Mike Pence. There is no self-reflection that needs to take place with with the entire country. Only those who participated in it have an obligation to self-reflect on the role they played and the damage it caused to this country – McDaniel included.
Brennan asked her if Trump had done any self-reflection.
McDaniel: “I’m going to talk about me because I’m not going to speak for somebody else. What I will say from an RNC perspective is we’ve been more vocal in denouncing groups like QAnon. We know that anarchists came to Washington that day. There was a bomb placed outside of my building, outside of the Republican National Committee. We have a deeply divided nation. I will do that. I will denounce elements that pretend to be Republican and say we do not want you in our party. I would like Democrats to do the same with Antifa and groups that are anti-Semitic that masquerade as Democrats. and say you are not welcome in our party, as they burned down cities this past summer. I would ask the media to be more fair and how you report things. Don’t suppress reports on Hunter Biden and what’s happening with Andrew Cuomo and the immense failures and then highlighting things like you did with Governor Noem. Andrew Cuomo, what he had done, his policies killed people…”
The Republican party has not been more vocal in denouncing groups like QAnon – at least, not that I know of. A few maybe, not the entire party. The majority of the Republican party loves Trump, and are either QAnon supporters themselves, or don’t mind it’s presence and/ or influence in the party.
Trump supporting extremists came to the Capitol that day, and one or several of them placed explosives outside the RNC and DNC headquarters, probably the night before. Yes, the nation is deeply divided. And why is it divided? It certainly isn’t Democrats who are dividing it. I could name that party, but it’s obvious.
Again, I haven’t heard any wide spread condemnation of Marjory Taylor Green’s radical extremism, her racism, anti-Semitism, or her violent rhetoric. Whenever Republicans are called on to denounce extremism in their own party, they pivot to what-aboutism, what about the Democrats. Donald Trump did exactly that during the NBC televised Town hall where Savannah Guthrie asked him to denounce QAnon, which he could not do without bringing up Antifa and the left. It always comes back to Democrats, the left to Antifa. Democrats must denounce Antifa, a small amorphous movement of anti-fascists, whom the right has exaggerated and hyped as a national terror threat. It’s not the actual, real terrorist groups on the far right that share the same politics, the same ideologies with the mainstream conservatives, some of whom have carried out murders of immigrants and Jews… they’re not the real threat, as the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies have confirmed. It’s really Antifa and BLM who dare show up at white supremacist and Trump rallies to scream in the face of a Nazi. That’s the real threat to a conservative. Even when Democrats denounce and call out violent tactics of Antifa, conservatives like McDaniel pretend it never happens.
She alludes to groups that burn down cities. No city, that I am aware of, has been burned to the ground. Then says the media must be more fair in it’s reporting. She unironically brings up the Hunter Biden story that even Fox News did not find credible, and pivots directly to Andrew Cuomo “and his immense failures,” accusing him of killing people, but, of course, has nothing to say about Trump’s immense failures to keep the public safe during a pandemic. It’s just blame Democrats, blame Democrats, blame Democrats for everything all day long. Democrats are responsible for Antifa, for everything Louis Farrakhan says about Jews and white people; they are responsible for racism, abortion, anti-Semitism, sexism, cancel culture; for suppressing free speech. It must be a perpetual apology tour – like the one they accused Obama of – atoning for every evil in the world. But even that wouldn’t satisfy conservatives. They would just find something else to bitch about and blame on Democrats.
Brennan said Cuomo wouldn’t like some of her questions if he came on her program, and McDaniel said he deserved it, because the “media as a whole has ignored Andrew Cuomo. Anyone who isn’t living in a conservative media bubble would know that just the opposite is true.
She then asked McDaniel about Liz Cheney lamenting being viewed as the party of white supremacy, and asked McDaniel if she would make it clear that the Republican party is not the party of white supremacy.
McDaniel: “A hundred percent. We passed a resolution unanimously from the RNC members three years ago saying we condemn white supremacy, anti-Semitism, KKK, and I’m going to add QAnon to that. They are not welcome in our party. I have not seen Democrats do that with Louis Farrakhan, who calls the Jewish people termites. I have not seen them do that with Antifa, who last night committed violence again in Portland.”
It’s disappointing when mainstream media fail to do their jobs when talking to these Republicans who lie so easily with a straight face. It’s disappointing that Brennan allowed her to ramble on and lie without once pushing back, challenging her and fact checking some of her claims. There were three RNC resolutions. One of them supposedly condemned racism from white supremacists, but not the bigotry and hatred from Trump or the Republican party. Another one simply condemned the Southern Poverty Law Center for daring to call out and condemn hate groups, the majority of which happen to be conservative, which is what they were really upset about. That one also called out the Obama administration. I wonder why.
What Democrats have to do with Louis Farrakhan and what he has said about Jews or white people, I have no idea. Republicans have been desperate to connect him with the Democratic party for years, ever since that photo of Obama standing next to him appeared on the internet, just as they’re currently desperate to keep the narrative alive that their party is still the party of Lincoln, not racism, despite the fact that Republicans hate black people – Black Lives Matter are “racists, “thugs,” and “terrorists” – are the party that engages in voter suppression tactics, and are the party that have ironically and cluelessly adopted the legacy of the Confederacy, who get butthurt when SJW’s remove their symbols of “southern pride and heritage.”
They have been trying to do the same with Antifa. Even though Antifa, who are not Democrats and are not supported by the Democrats – or vice versa – they constantly claim that Antifa are either the “militant wing of the Democrats,” or they “refuse to condemn their violence,” despite the overwhelming evidence that many Democrats have done so. Again, the idea that Democrats must denounce and condemn Antifa and other left-wing SJ’s, is absurd. They don’t have to denounce Antifa. Democrats have never demanded the same of Republicans.
Brennan reminded McDaniel that the people who sieged the Capitol were carrying Trump flags, which was why Cheney voted to impeach Trump, and, of course, McDaniel had no defense whatsoever.
McDaniel: “But you know what? The Democrats have created a safe haven for Antifa. They have not denounced them. Nancy Pelosi said as cities were being ripped apart, people will do what they do. You can’t hold Republicans to one standard and not Democrats and that creates unrest as well.”
Again back to Antifa. Just as Trump could never condemn the extremist shooters who acted on his rhetoric and that of the conservative media, McDaniel could not bring herself to criticize Trump or the extremists who support him. Just lie about the Democrats creating “a safe haven for Antifa.” What did they do to create this safe haven? Set up sanctuary cities exclusively for anti-fascists?
As cities were “being ripped apart” due to police violence, Nancy Pelosi said “people will do what they do.” In the conservative bubble means this means she was “dismissing violence,” and “encouraging mob violence,” which every right-winger on Twitter said she was doing. She wasn’t. Conservatives are so dim-witted they are unable to comprehend anything they read, which is why they are always taking everything Democrats say out of context. Pelosi’s comments on the protesters toppling the statue of Columbus in Baltimore were nuanced. When asked by a reporter whether it should have been done by a commission or city council, instead of a mob, Pelosi said, “People will do what they do. I do think that from a safety standpoint, it would be a good idea to have it taken down if the community doesn’t want it. I don’t know that it has to be a commission but it could be a community view. Sometimes it’s something that’s been there, that view has been there for a while, but let’s just say… I always say to young people, children who come to the Capitol, when you look around you see statues to people and Washington monuments and the rest who we respect. Washington, Jefferson. Heroes, they would want us to be talking about the future, your future. So everything we do here is about you. It’s not necessarily… they would want it to be about looking forward, not looking back. So let’s just think about what are the values, the vision, the perspective that we enshrine and how that benefits our children rather than having a big fight about was somebody worth it. We know they’re not worth it if they committed treason against the United States.”
Because Conservatives hate Pelosi so much, they took one sentence – people will do what they do – and had a Twitter tantrum accusing her of encouraging violence. Again, she wasn’t. The people encouraging and inciting violence are conservatives, the Marjory Taylor Green’s and the Lauren Boeberts in Congress, and the Republican party has actually given them a “safe haven” within the party. “Democrats have created a safe haven for Antifa,” my ass!
Brennan then asked her if Marjory Taylor Green is representative of the kind of woman she wants to draw to the Republican party.
McDaniel: “Well, you know, I’ve been very vocal about her comments. She apologize for them. I’m glad to see she did and her district will decide that. But we have increased women . We’re now thirty-eight women in Congress in the Republican party. That’s the highest we’ve ever had. And here’s the other thing. Women are suffering under the Biden administration. 2.4 million women have lost their jobs because of daycare issues. A hundred and fifty thousand last month. Women are going through a she-cession. Women are struggling because our kids are not back at school. I’m not saying this as a Republican. I’m saying this as a mother of two kids in public schools watching this rip apart my community as kids are suffering. So get it done. Get our kids back in school. And that’s what the Republican party stands for.”
McDaniel found some of Green’s Facebook post comments “disgusting, and have no place in our country,” which doesn’t sound very vocal to me. Has she ever confronted Green about those comments? Has she ever suggested that Green be expelled from Congress? Has she told Green to her face that she is not welcome in the Republican party? No, no, and no. She apologized for them, don’t you know? Everything is peachy keen now! Democrats need to just shut up about QAnon. The other thing is that women are suffering under Joe Biden’s presidency. 2.4 million women have lost their jobs because they can’t find any daycares to take care of their kids. That’s a lot of women who just suddenly happen to have lost their jobs in less than seven weeks. None of that could possibly have occured under the last administration. Oh no. That administration was perfect. They did everything they could to stop the virus in its tracks. They encouraged everyone to wear masks, social distance, stay home, wash their hands – you name it, Trump, the Republican party and Fox News pundits encouraged it all.
Who does she think she kidding? For a woman who claimed during an interview with The New York Times that she had regrets about allowing Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell the use of the RNC headquarters to hold their insane news conference – “When I saw some of the things Sydney was saying without proof, I certainly was concerned that it was happening in my building. There were a whole host of issues we had to deal with – what is the liability of the RNC if these allegations are made and unfounded?” – I can’t take her seriously about anything. She was so concerned that she went and held her own news conference with Kayleigh McEnany, the one that even Fox News refused to air. They must have been competing to see who could be the craziest in their claims, and it just so happens that Giuliani and Powell were the more crazier. Too bad they didn’t win an award. Fox News would have devoted an entire week to it.
The last administration could have gotten the job done if it were not so inept. It could have gotten kids back in school, people back to work, if it had just done the right thing, taken the pandemic seriously, instead of complaining about tyranny for being asked to wear masks around others, to lock down. Instead it chose to encourage its supporters to storm Capitol buildings with weapons, to threaten Democratic leaders with death threats. Just as it encouraged its supporters to storm the Washington Capitol on January 06, not only to protest a democratic election, but to overturn it by force, mobs of psychopaths who destroyed property, murdered people, and then had the fucking nerve to say Antifa did it. And to have media – Fox News, Newsmax, OANN – that willingly and eagerly went along with its narrative of a stolen election, and to have a team of lawyers, and supporters who repeated that narrative during interviews and news conferences – Giuliani, Sydney Powell, McEnany, and Ronna McDaniel – and to continue to claim that the Republican party is the party of unity, of responsibility, the Constitution – is outright laughable.
And Margret Brennan’s failure to press her on any of this, is disappointing.
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