UNTHINKABLE: The monstrosity of GOP House Oversight Comm. members
If you listen to the extremists who have taken over the Republican Party, they would try to convince you that the only discrimination that exists in the United States today is the reverse racism against white people.
Everything from affirmative action in college admissions policies to vital social services are tainted by discrimination against those of European heritage in these extremists’ eyes.
These eyes are seemingly permanently befogged by an entrenched filter of white grievance misdirected at people of other races and religions rather than the wealthy oligarchs who would rather see that anger directed at other victims of their greed than at themselves.
If any reader feels that that assessment is too harsh, then perhaps they can be convinced by the news today that all 26 of the Republican members of the House Oversight Committee — EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM — have refused to sign a statement denouncing White Supremacy that was proffered by their colleague, Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD).
The statement that these Republican lawmakers declined to affix their signatures to was not some long, difficult-to-defend screed.
It was a straightforward, two-sentence declaration that read in its entirety:
“We, Members of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, together denounce white nationalism and white supremacy in all its forms, including the ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory. These hateful and dangerous ideologies have no place in the work of the United States Congress or our Committee.”
Just think of the implications that refusing to sign on to a statement such as this bring.
One could successfully argue that it means that ALL of these Republican legislators agree with the “Great Replacement” theory, white nationalism, and white supremacy and actually celebrate rather than denounce “these hateful and dangerous ideologies.”
Congressman Raskin was inspired to request the denunciation of white supremacy in a letter to Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) after recent committee hearings on immigration featured several GOP members who rattled off “dangerous and conspiratorial rhetoric echoing the racist and nativist tropes peddled by white supremacists and right-wing extremists.”
While Rep. Raskin was discrete enough not to name names in his letter to Chairman Comer, it should be noted that among those 26 Republicans who couldn’t find it in their hearts to denounce white supremacy were Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Chip Roy (R-TX), Paul A. Gosar (R-AZ), and Josh Brecheen (R-OK), all of whom have referred to the refugee issue at the Mexican border as an “invasion.”
From Rep Raskin’s letter:
“In particular, some Members repeatedly described the number of migrants arriving at the border as an ‘invasion,’ and even went so far as to falsely accuse the Biden-Harris Administration of implementing a plan ‘to deliberately open our border’ for purposes of ‘changing our culture’—mirroring language often used by MAGA extremists who believe that pro-immigration policies are designed to replace white populations with non-white immigrants and other racial minorities,”
Raskin then went on to specifically tie these extremist attitudes to both white supremacy and violence against minorities in this country.
“As I explained to you at the hearing,” Raskin continues in his letter to Comer, “such language borrows from the ‘Great Replacement’ theory, the central dogma of contemporary white supremacy that has been repeatedly invoked by white nationalists to justify violent acts of domestic terrorism, including the mass murders of dozens of Americans at a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York, the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.”
Needless to say, all 21 Democrats on the Oversight Committee were perfectly happy, even eager, to sign the statement.
For your future reference, here is the list of Republican representatives who refused to denounce white supremacy:
- James Comer
- Jim Jordan
- Mike Turner
- Paul Gosar
- Virginia Foxx
- Glenn Grothman
- Gary Palmer
- Clay Higgins
- Pete Sessions
- Andy Biggs
- Nancy Mace
- Jake LaTurner
- Pat Fallon
- Byron Donalds
- Kelly Armstrong
- Scott Perry
- William Timmons
- Tim Burchett
- Marjorie Taylor Greene
- Lisa McClain
- Lauren Boebert
- Russell Fry
- Anna Paulina Luna
- Chuck Edwards
- Nick Langworthy
- Eric Burlison
Sure, it’s not unexpected that familiar Ultra MAGA representatives like Jordan, Gosar, Biggs, Perry, Greene, Boebert, and Luna would decline to participate in denouncing their basic worldviews.
But when even a relatively moderate Republican like Nancy Mace refuses to sign a repudiation of white supremacy, then one of our nation’s political parties has a serious problem…and it ain’t the Democrats.
Our nation and all its peoples — whatever their race, skin color, religion, or national origin — deserve better, as promised in both our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
It’s about time that Republicans are forced to honor their oath to that Constitution, an oath that is completely incompatible with white supremacy.
Original reporting by Theodoric Meyer and Leigh Ann Caldwell at the Washington Post.
Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.
