Opinion: Pence has twisted himself into a pretzel on Trump
Failed Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake declared at a Georgia Republican rally:
“I have a message tonight for Merrick Garland and Jack Smith and Joe Biden — and the guys back there in the fake news media … If you want to get to President Trump, you’re going to have to go through me, and 75 million Americans just like me.
And most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA. That’s not a threat, that’s a public service announcement.”
Just to be clear, that is a threat. After having her election lies rejected by court after court, Lake should know that just because you say something doesn’t make it true.
But the response to an absence of facts is often simply to scream louder – and some MAGA backers have heard the warlike rhetoric loud and clear, responding with online chatter about a second civil war.
The threats of violence reflect an authoritarian impulse completely at odds with the alleged principles of the Republican Party and the conservative movement.
After all, this is a political party that has long claimed to stand for patriotism, individual responsibility, family values and the rule of law.
They are risking abandoning it all to protect a cult of personality for a political con man whose actions are the opposite of all those virtues.
