As things stand now, there are essentially two wings of the Republican Party: the dominant, more overtly fascistic MAGA bloc that represents former President Donald Trump’s near-takeover of the GOP, and the more reserved, more dignified-seeming minority, whose pursuit of the same legislative goals as their rowdier peers differs only in volume, not content.
This schism is nevertheless the animating force behind the Trumpified portion of the party’s ongoing — and largely successful — effort to purge even the appearance of dissent from its ranks. On Friday, that push took a significant step forward, as the Republican National Committee officially censured two of its own — Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger — simply for their willingness to investigate the attempted coup of Jan. 6, 2021.
“The conference must not be sabotaged by Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who have demonstrated, with actions and words, that they support Democrat efforts to destroy President Trump more than they support winning back a Republican majority in 2022,” a draft of the resolution obtained by NBC News reads.
“Cheney and Kinzinger have engaged in actions in their positions as members of the January 6th Select Committee not befitting Republican members of Congress,” it continues.
The push to officially shun Cheney and Kinzinger — the two Republicans on the congressional panel investigating the events of, and leading up to, the insurrection — was largely spearheaded by former Trump campaign manager, televised racist, and accused campaign fraudster David Bossie, who allegedly whipped at least 60 cosponsors for his resolution from among RNC delegates. Per NBC News, the measure began as an effort to expel the pair from the party altogether, but was eventually tempered down to a censure in an inadvertently hilarious demonstration of the GOP’s embrace of differing opinions.
After passing a committee vote on Thursday evening, the censure was approved by the full RNC after a voice vote during their winter meeting, which is being held in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Friday. The party has already begun moving toward an agreement to shift funding away from Cheney and to her primary challenger ahead of this year’s midterm race.
Speaking together ahead of Friday’s vote, Bossie and RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel continued their assault on Cheney and Kinzinger, calling them complacent in “Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse,” which is quite the framing for a seditious mob who came chillingly close to overturning the results of a presidential election and lynching the vice president.
That McDaniel in particular seemed so enthusiastic about purging dissent from among her ranks — in Salt Lake City no less — is all the more awkward given Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney is her uncle. Here was his mealy-mouthed criticism of the party’s posturing under the leadership of his niece:
On Twitter, Cheney — who last year was censured by the Wyoming state Republican party for her vote to impeach Trump — swiped back at the RNC’s vote, claiming, “I’m a constitutional conservative and I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump.”
She may not recognize them, but the fact is: This is the Republican Party moving forward. There’s no turning back now.
