Allegiance to the United States of America and the Constitution has taken a back seat to the delusional and idiotic test of loyalty now required of Republican lawmakers if they want to stay in the good graces of their cult leader, Donald Trump.
Trump is the perfect cult leader, and his followers are so emmersed in his rhetoric that they have lost their sense of direction and more sadly, their ability to think for themselves. One thing Trumpers have learned, and very well, is the mantra associated with the “Big Lie.”
The most ardent followers of Trump’s mantra are easy to recognize, including Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, along with a few others, but I am left to wonder how many lawmakers pretend they believe the falsehoods, or just don’t let it be known that they don’t.
Now, hard-line conservative Republican Representative Liz Cheney is in the Trump cult’s crosshairs, simply because she put the Constitution and allegiance to the truth before party politics. The Guardian notes that Cheney’s one cardinal sin was rejecting Trump’s “big lie” that last year’s election was stolen from him.
What has happened to the Grand Old Party?
Back as early as the 1870s, politicians, and newspapers began to refer to the Republican Party as both the “grand old party” and the “gallant old party” to emphasize its role in preserving the Union during the Civil War. However, times and political beliefs have changed.
The Times Union perhaps hits the nail on the head when it describes today’s Grand Old Party as “a delusional cult of personality in which the most essential rite of passage is to deny the truth.” Sadly, for the nation, nearly half of Congress has been swept up in the cult.
If anyone thought the fervor over Trump’s false allegations would end after President Joe Biden was sworn into office on January 20, the prospects for a return to sanity, or some semblance of Democracy are dimming a little more each day.
And for that, my heart is sad, and I fear for our Democratic process.
