MAGA vs. MAGA

To the Editor:

Fayette County’s and Texas’ voters should clearly understand this: The Trumpist Republicans who planned, paid for, and pardoned the attempted overthrow of our government now control the House of Representatives thanks to Texas’ and other states’ gerrymandered maps and anti-voter laws that enabled state legislatures to pick which voters to heed and which to silence. Predictably, they have delivered a chaotic spectacle that demonstrates just how thoroughly they want to seize power not in order to govern but instead to dismantle government and take away our freedoms.

We must make clear that House dysfunction like the recent Speaker election drama is MAGA vs MAGA, Trumpism vs Trumpism, an argument over who will grand marshal the fascist parade. Regardless of who holds the gavel, all Trumpists have the same agenda: distracting us with sham inquisitions while they take away our freedoms and block everything that our families need and that serves the public good.

With every new development, McCarthy demonstrably makes clear that he and all MAGA Republicans are willing to uphold and perpetuate a destructive ideology in order to claim and hold power. Such an ideology will employ “hostage demands,” “MAGA demands,” or “kickbacks” to describe McCarthy’s and others’ engagement with their most hard-right faction.

We must take care not to have the back-and-forth tennis match narration of their daily dysfunctional drama overtake what must be the task before us voters: Making clear Trumpist Republicans’ aims, the motives behind them, and the need for us to act collectively to protect our freedoms, our families, and our futures. That requires highlighting the stark contrast between the will of the people and the Trumpist Republican strategy of using deliberate division and distraction to seize power in order to rule for the wealthy few.

Trumpist Republicans want to turn the fascists tendencies of our past into our future. No matter what spectacle Trumpist Republicans launch next, we must stay consistent, focused on higher order values, and united in calling out their names and power grabs, while protecting our freedoms, our families, and our futures.