The scum sinks to the bottom

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The Republican Party is a reverse meritocracy. In successful organizations, “the cream rises to the top,” meaning the best people in the organization ascend into leadership positions. In the Republican Party, the opposite is true: the vilest, stupidest and most dangerous people rise to the top.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is not stupid, but he makes up for it by excelling in the vile and dangerous categories. House GOP “Leader” Kevin McCarthy, of course, hits the trifecta, as does the acknowledged Party leader, Donald Trump.

And the vile/evil/stupid standards hold true not just for the GOP’s formal leadership positions, but also for prominence in the national consciousness. The blockbuster Rolling Stone article detailing coordination among the White House, House Republicans, and leaders of the Jan. 6th Capitol Insurrection identified Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, Mo Brooks, Madison Cawthorn, Andy Biggs, and Louie Gohmert as being complicit in plotting the assault on American democracy.

If you happened upon an organization in which one or two of these people played prominent roles, you would be well advised to avoid any contact with it. Any group that tolerates, much less celebrates, such miscreants should set off warning bells. Republicans have all seven of them named as playing a big role in the effort to overturn a Presidential election.

And these are not outliers. The GOP regards the similarly “talented” Gym Jordan and Matt Gaetz among their Most Valuable Players, who they insert (or who insert themselves) into every high-profile situation to aggressively and obnoxiously push mendacious Republican talking points.

On top of these, the upper house of Congress features such prominent Republican cretins as Senators Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, Rick Scott, Tom Cotton, Tommy Tuberville, Marsha Blackburn, Marco Rubio, Chuck Grassley, Joni Ernst, Mike Lee, John Kennedy, Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, Jim Inhofe, Lindsey Graham, and John Cornyn.

It is no accident that the Republican Party features the worst people. In the GOP, the pond scum rises to the top for a reason. This is who they are, a vile, vicious group who are interested in perpetuating an America in which the rich get richer and poorer whites are presented with scapegoats they can blame for their sorry lot in life. The more corrupt and morally bankrupt a party hack is, the more likely he or she will become a public face of the GOP. You can test this theory out the next time you see a Republican speaking in public or on TV.