Becoming Trump’s Accomplice
CPAC served up a flood of anti-democratic gaslighting and projecting from VP hopefuls, determined to appease the GOP's cult leader
When Mike Pence was picked as Donald Trump’s vice president (with the help of campaign chair and eventual convicted felon Paul Mannafort), Pence didn’t know where this great honor would end up. If he did, maybe he would have reconsidered. But just maybe—because it’s hard to overstate the craven ambition of a second-rate politician given the chance to gain great power.
This weekend a parade of second-rate politicians showcased the depths to which they will go to attach themselves to the leading Republican candidate for president. It seems like a misnomer to call their pursuit an audition for VP. It’s more like prostrating oneself to become an accomplice to a known criminal, with full knowledge that he will keep committing crimes and exploiting his possible ascension and immunity to end democracy and install a dictatorship.
As these crime-show participants made clear at the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), they’re all-in on gaslighting, projecting and remaining untethered from reality if it earns them the golden ticket from Donald J. Trump. And rampant fear-mongering and retribution against perceived enemies? A bonus. Let’s take a look at some of the lowlights.
Leading the rabid pack was New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, a once-moderate Republican who has turned aggressively into a full-throated advocate of MAGA world to earn the attention of both the cultists and their leader. On Saturday, she claimed that the true danger facing American democracy was “the radical left and the Democrats.” And she praised the Jan. 6 capitol attack and insurrection where she voted against certifying the 2020 election and “stood up for the Constitution and election integrity.”
She reportedly was bathed in repeated shouts of “We love you, Elise”—surely spurred by her frequent references to the “Biden crime family.” Oh, the power of projection: “The closer President Trump gets to victory, the dirtier the Democrats, their stenographers in the media and the corrupt prosecutors will get,” Stefanik said. “They will stop at nothing, and I mean nothing, in their attempt to steal this next election.”
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance also made clear how adoring his gaze will be if he gets the nod. “Donald Trump is maybe the first politician in my lifetime who will be much poorer for having served his country,” he told a Newsmax interviewer on CPAC’s main stage. “That is the best evidence that we should re-elect him in 2024 —he has sacrificed for his country.”
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem proudly exclaimed her early endorsement of Trump and her willingness to exacerbate Trump-level divisiveness. “There are two kinds of people in this country right now,” Noem said. “There are people who love America, and there are those who hate America…And let’s be clear: Joe Biden is working every day to destroy America and taking away freedoms.”
Former GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy took that division a step further to make clear who is who. In his view, Democrats represent a “hateful fringe minority.” Seriously?
“We are in the middle of a war in this country,” Ramaswamy said. “It is a war between those of us who love the United States of America and our founding ideals and a fringe minority who hates this country and what we stand for.”
But it may be far-right conspiracy theorist Jeff Posobiec who best captured the extremist mentality driving MAGA, CPAC and their cult leader. While not in the lineup for Trump VP, he was given a premier spot to spew his opinions in a panel hosted by democracy-despising convicted felon Steve Bannon.
“I just wanted to say: Welcome to the end of democracy. We’re here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we’ll endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here.”
As Posobiec then held up his clenched fist, Bannon took to the microphone to back him. “Amen,” Bannon said.
This is the kind of anti-American burlesque that defines the pseudo-intellectual wing of Trump’s Republican Party these days. The open hostility to democracy decorated with arrogant mockery. Meetings of so-called conservatives on their knees in obedience to Trump. No interest in the 91 felony charges except as an expression of the depth of persecution and victimization facing their beloved hero. The raising of a clenched fist to remind people that violence and control is what really appeals to them.
Is it any wonder how low the most craven among the Republicans will go to land a spot as Trump’s accomplice? We haven’t even begun to see what that bottomless pit really looks like. It’s not going to be pretty.
One other thing: Yes, Trump may be closer to securing the nomination after taking 60 percent of the vote and all the GOP delegates in the South Carolina primary Saturday. But let’s be clear that a sizable population doesn’t want him, as the one-on-one voting with Nikki Haley reveals. Haley narrowly won moderates and ran well among non-evangelicals, independents and college graduates. Many of those voters can end up in the Biden camp.
As ugly and chaotic as Trump and his eventual accomplice make the months leading up to November, a strong turnout of Democrats and independents and the sliver of college-educated Republicans who can’t abide a felonious nominee can help ensure this dark chapter in our history is only a temporary nightmare.
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Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The GOP is a clear and present danger to our constitution.
Brilliant writing as usual.
When Trump loses, we need to remember all these people and what they did.