GOP opportunists pounce amid Donald Trump – Kevin McCarthy schism
The fallout from the leaked McCarthy tapes continues. The latest Republican to make a fool of himself is Chris Christie. The former New Jersey Governor and star of “Bridge-gate” is seemingly determined to stay in the news, even if it’s for all the wrong reasons.
On “This Week,” an ABC program, Christie talked about the McCarthy tapes and tried adding a little spin.
“No, I don’t think it hurts him (McCarthy),” said Christie.
“I don’t think any voter is going to care.”
Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile was also a guest, and she wasted no time in pushing back.
“I think he’s terrified of Trump,” she said.
“He needs Trump in order to become Speaker of the House.”
“And he’s afraid of turning off his base.”
Brazile also speculated that fringe Republicans like Gaetz and Greene would never let McCarthy forget what he did.
But Christie wasn’t giving up the argument without a fight.
“He wasn’t getting their votes anyway.”
“Those three people that you just mentioned aren’t voting for Kevin McCarthy.”
Christie is utterly wrong on this one, and I’ll tell you why. What Christie does not seem to understood is it isn’t just those three people. The GOP is now much more in lockstep with folks like Greene than with moderate Republicans like Mitt Romney. How Christie cannot see that, I don’t know.
Perhaps it’s plain old denial. Perhaps he doesn’t WANT to see it because that would mean admitting some things about his own party that are not so pleasant. And Christie wants to LEAD that party — someday.
But it can never be. The Republican “party” isn’t a party anymore. It’s an alt-right fringe network. This network lives in a sea of discontent, where suspicion breeds more suspicion, and every day, it seems a new conspiracy is hatched.
This THING that has risen bears little to no resemblance to what it once was, and it exists for one reason — anger.
Anger is their weapon of choice, rage is all they see, and joy is a distant memory if they ever experienced it at all, which I doubt. Christie is seeking to be part of something that’s long out of business. It appears he is a long way from understanding this.
