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Here is the latest evidence that a frightening level of volatility reigns just below the surface of our body politic: A new investigation of the non-partisan Institute for Research on Public Religion found that 30 percent of Republicans agreed with the statement, “Because things have gotten so far, true American patriots may use violence to save our country.”
PRRI pollster Robert Jones found that “alarming. I’ve been doing this for decades, and it’s not the kind of discovery you’re used to seeing.
A week later, representative Paul Gosar, the white nationalist hero who called the mob that attacked the US Capitol as “peaceful patriots,” posted a doctored anime video on his Twitter feed. He presented his own evil as a warrior – one who uses a sword to behead Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, with blood gushing from her neck wound, before turning his blade against President Biden. Arizona Republican explained that the video was a “symbolic representation of a struggle for immigration policy” and noted that AOC represents “the scourge of illegal immigration”.
For this, Gosar was censored by the House and was stripped of his committee seats by the Democratic majority, but his own party gave him a pass because only two Republicans – principled but ostracized Lynn Cheney and Adam Kinzinger – voted in favor of the sanction.
It was a disturbing reminder that a growing number of Republican members are ready to trivialize and even encourage violence against anyone who does not agree with them. It’s unclear whether the two GOP members of the New Jersey delegation who voted against censorship – Reps. Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew – fall into one of these categories because they did not answer questions about their vote.
We would like to know: Is Gosar’s behavior, as the PRRI poll may imply, something they expect and accept? Is it okay to post a video where you murder a coworker in any other workplace they know of? Are they comfortable with the growing fringe of their glorifying party armed conflict to settle political disputes?
Gosar was clearly supported by such support, led by the leader of the minority Kevin mccarthy. Minutes after becoming the first censored member in a decade, he re-tweeted the violent video. This proved two things: Gosar lives to troll, and the former dentist knows how to turn appalling images into a fundraising opportunity.
And his fellow Republicans move on, threatening retaliation against Democrats, abandoning civil ideas and discourse, and contenting themselves with enlivening their base with grotesque fantasies. Your government, cherish it.
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