Analysis: Liz Cheney calls out fellow Republicans over shooting
Which is, well, pretty damning.
That question doesn’t have an easy answer but there is some evidence to suggest that House GOP leaders — of which Cheney was one before being ousted last year for her willingness to criticize former President Donald Trump — have, at a minimum, been willing to look the other way as some of their rank and file have flirted with major figures in the white nationalist movement.
While some Republicans — most notably Utah Sen. Mitt Romney — blasted Greene and Gosar for their attendance, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was largely mum.
This exchange, in early March, between the California Republican and Capitol Hill reporters on that topic is telling:
Reporter: Any update on your conversations with Congressman Gosar and Greene?
McCarthy: Yes, I’ve talked to Greene. I’m still waiting to talk to Gosar.
Reporter: And?
McCarthy: I’ve talked to them.
Reporter: But I think you told Jake and Manu [Raju] there’s no place for that?
McCarthy: There isn’t no place for that. There’s no place for what has gone on with that organization by far, and there never will be in this party, and it’ll never be tolerated.
Reporter: Will she go again?
McCarthy: No, she will not go again.
Reporter: Any repercussions for her?
McCarthy: Look, my conversations with my members are exactly that, and I appreciate you asking. … They have the ability to be able to get committees based upon that time when it comes.
Which, well, yeah.
Which, well, OK.
Here’s the thing: When you don’t condemn and punish members of your own party when they flirt with White nationalists and White nationalist ideology, you open the door for it to happen more often.
That fact doesn’t mean that the likes of McCarthy or Stefanik bear direct blame for what happened in Buffalo over the weekend. But, there is no question that Republican leaders have allowed intolerance — and noxious notions like White replacement theory — to fester within a part of their ranks over the past few years.
And, as Cheney rightly notes, those actions — or, more accurately, that inaction — have consequences.
