Republicans Wear Cruelty as a Badge of Honor

The Republican Party laughably contines to be the party of "family values" even as it abuses undocumented immigarnt familes fr sport and scoring political points with the party's white supremacist and right wing religious extremist base. Evangelicals, who wear false piety and religiosity on their sleeves, applaud the mistreatment of families so long as they have a different skin color, make it clear that Christ's message of aiding the poor, feeding the hungry and giving shelter to the homeless has been totally excised from their bibles.  Their sole focus - when not engaging in Pharisee-like behavior - is embrace the brutality and cruelty of the most heinous Old Testament passages. What is particularly disgusting is how so-called country club Republicans have gotten on board with such vile behavior and/or look the other way only worried about paying less in taxes.  A column in the Washington Post looks at the moral degridation of today's Republican Party.  Yes, Trump has been a toxic influence, but the moral bankruptcy extends far deeper.  Here are column excerpts: 

Many in the media had a meltdown when President Biden called the MAGA movement “semi-fascist.” They tut-tutted because they said his speech in Philadelphia was too “divisive.” In reality, the fault in Biden’s speech is that he was not tough enough on Republicans.

Biden seems to believe there is a mass of normal, non-MAGA Republicans out there. If there is, it is a small minority in the party. Most are all too comfortable with the extremism and violent rhetoric of their peers.

Donald Trump and his flunkies have predicted violence if he were prosecuted for hoarding highly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort. He did it again Thursday, declaring that if he were indicted, the country would have “problems ... the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen before.” He added that Americans wouldn’t stand for prosecution.

His statement is an incitement to violence, plain and simple. It echoes the same rhetoric he deployed in the run-up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. No pundit or Republican official who continues to defend Trump or who feigns outrage at characterizations that his movement is “fascist” can claim ignorance.

Scores of Republican election deniers are on the ballot, including many who actively sought to overturn the 2020 election (e.g., Doug Mastriano, candidate for Pennsylvania governor; Adam Laxalt, candidate for Senate in Nevada). To call these individuals “conservatives” or to treat them as garden-variety candidates is to conceal that they, too, are a threat to democracy.

The horror show does not stop there. The Post reported last week, “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) claimed credit Thursday for flying dozens of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard . . . . Let’s put it this way: Sending migrants to “liberal elites” attempts to use non-White human beings as “punishment.” This conduct is not only dehumanizing; it is racist.

As Jonathan V. Last explains at the Bulwark, DeSantis used migrants as “props” because “he saw that he could use them as a means to the ends of his personal ambition.”

Christians should look at this act and be revolted. They should be horrified.” Some are, no doubt, but the MAGA base is delighted, which is why DeSantis is doing it.

DeSantis is not alone. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has repeatedly tried the same stunt. . . . . This is how he chooses to spend taxpayers’ money (when he is not bullying LGBTQ children or forcing women to give birth against their will).

Meanwhile, another spasm of bigotry from Republican Senate nominee J.D. Vance of Ohio was uncovered last week. Back in January, he let loose this stream of bile that managed to merge racism, antisemitism and forced-birth extremism . . . .

And I haven’t even bothered with the most notorious MAGA loudmouths, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake or the election deniers running for secretary of state in Arizona and Nevada.

One wonders when the media will stop calling these Republicans “conservatives” and affix a more accurate label. With all due respect to the president, there is nothing “semi” about their brand of fascism.