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.
