Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York late Wednesday offered a damning assessment of the state of the Republican Party in the wake of Donald Trump's departure from the White House, warning that the GOP's ongoing refusal to condemn—and ready embrace of—the violent right-wing forces that the former president animated is “extremely dangerous” for the country.
“There are no consequences in the Republican caucus for violence,” Ocasio-Cortez, a frequent target of deranged right-wing threats, said in an appearance on MSNBCWednesday night. “No consequences for racism. No consequences for misogyny. No consequences for insurrection. And no consequences means that they condone it. It means that that silence is acceptance.”
Far from distancing themselves from the most extreme elements of Trump's base now that he's out of power, Republicans are still attempting to wield those violent and racist forces for political gain, said Ocasio-Cortez. On Tuesday, all but five Republican senators voted to dismiss the upcoming impeachment trial against Trump, which will decide whether the former president is convicted for inciting the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol earlier this month.
The New York Democrat on Wednesday explicitly called out House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for refusing to hold his members accountable for their behavior, including their complicity in the January 6 mob assault. “Kevin McCarthy answers to these QAnon members of Congress, not the other way around,” Ocasio-Cortez argued, referring to the far-right conspiracy theory that some Republican lawmakers have espoused and backed.
“We are now away from acting out of fealty to their president that they had in the Oval Office, and now we are talking about fealty to white supremacist organizations as a political tool,” the congresswoman continued. “We really, really need to ask ourselves what they are evolving into, because this is no longer a party of limited government. This is about something much more nefarious.”
Ocasio-Cortez's comments came days after CNN reported that freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) “repeatedly indicated support for executing prominent Democratic politicians”—including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)—prior to her election to Congress last November.
“Greene, who represents Georgia's 14th Congressional District, frequently posted far-right extremist and debunked conspiracy theories on her page, including the baseless QAnon conspiracy which casts former President Donald Trump in an imagined battle against a sinister cabal of Democrats and celebrities who abuse children,” according to CNN.
In response to the new reporting, Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) warned that Greene's “very presence in office represents a direct threat against the elected officials and staff who serve our government” and said he plans to introduce a resolution to expel the Georgia Republican from the House.
“Such advocacy for extremism and sedition not only demands her immediate expulsion from Congress, but it also merits strong and clear condemnation from all of her Republican colleagues, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell,” Gomez said in a statement Wednesday. “I call on my House colleagues to support my resolution to immediately remove Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from this legislative body.”
