How Hard Do You Laugh If Someone Calls The GOP The Party Of Law And Order?

"Take America Back" by Nancy Ohanian

Earlier today, Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told his followers that “The GOP is a chaos party with no platform other than this: worship Donald Trump and defend him no matter what he says or does. It’s a deranged cult of personality, with Trump’s bottomless corruption, white supremacy, and dangerous authoritarianism governing their every move. They’re fighting to regain power in 2024. But we’re ready for them. The Democratic Party post-Trump is the fighting party of democracy. We are battle-hardened veterans of the struggle to defend democratic freedom — and we know how to beat them."

Is Jamie right? Is it that bad? Last week Roland told me Trump had scheduled outdoor MAGA rallies in Phoenix and Las Vegas and that it was going to be over 110 degrees in each city. We made a wager. He said the rallies would be cancelled. I said he’d do ‘em anyway and some old coots would die from heat stroke. Trump did the Phoenix rally yesterday. 11 people were taken out to ambulances on stretchers and are now hospitalized. Several were on IVs— and this was even before the cult leader had arrived, so it wasn’t his hot air that got anyone sick.

Later, referencing the Green New Deal, Trump who may not have been aware about his followers in the hospitals, said “Our country’s falling to pieces, and these guys― all they want to do is spend money on the ‘green new scam.’” And if anyone knows scams, you know who knows scams.

The Republican Party still wants to run as if they were a law and order party. Seems absurd. Seems disingenuous. Seems hypocritical. No? I mean where do you ever start with these guys? Since the fish rots from the head down, let’s start with ye olde Trump regime, which marred a significant part of the GOP's recent history. Señor T himself is a convicted felon and still facing multiple investigations and indictments, ranging from obstruction of justice to campaign finance violations and the charges related to stealing and retaining— probably selling but they’ll never tell us that— classified documents… and efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. So let’s be real: the involvement of a sitting president in these kinds of legal controversies undermines the party’s stance on law and order. And who can count his associates’ convictions. Just the high profile ones include Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Bannon and Michael Cohen. The repeated criminal activities of key figures within the inner circle highlight a pattern of lawbreaking that starkly contrasts with their claimed commitment to law and order.

As a party, the GOP focuses on law enforcement that targets marginalized communities, supporting tough-on-crime policies that disproportionately impact people of color and the poor. Meanwhile, they exhibit leniency towards white-collar crimes and offenses committed by their allies. This selective approach to law enforcement makes a mockery of any claim that there’s some kind of commitment to law and order is anything beyond political convenience. GOP rhetoric stresses strict adherence to the law, yet they frequently exhibit double standards. For instance, they vigorously pursued Hillary Clinton over her email server use while dismissing or minimizing far more serious legal issues within their own ranks. Again, this hypocrisy negates their position as a credible law and order party.

Best for last? The J-6 coup attempt and violent insurrection incited by Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud— and  propagated by many GOP members and their media shills— represents a blatant attack on the democratic process and the rule of law. The tepid response from many GOP leaders, including their refusal to condemn the violence and their subsequent efforts to downplay the events or block investigations, severely damages their credibility as proponents of law and order.

Yesterday, Leo Sands reported that in the Pennsylvania statehouse members of the “party of law and order” booed 2 of the Capitol police— Harry Dunn and Aquilino Gonell— who defending the Capitol from the rioters who were trying to kill Mike Pence, Nancy Pelosi and other political leaders. The two were introduced by Speaker Joanna McClinton. As “heroes” for having “bravely defended democracy in the United States Capitol against rioters and insurrection on January 6.”

Sands wrote that “As the two men— both of whom were injured by rioters on Jan. 6— were introduced, the House floor descended into chaos. According to Democratic lawmakers, several GOP lawmakers hissed and booed, with a number of Republicans walking out of the chamber in protest… The Republicans’ loud rejection of the two officers in a key battleground state underscores how polarizing the legacy of the Jan. 6 insurrection has become between the parties, to the extent that supporting law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol from violent rioters is seen as politically contentious by some lawmakers.

Is that how they perceive “backing the blue?” That’s a selective respect for law enforcement, maybe aligning only with their partisan agenda? The Republican Party’s refusal to acknowledge the valor of these officers simply because they are politically inconvenient underscores their prioritization of partisan interests over the principles of justice and respect for those who protect the public. By jeering officers who defended the Capitol during the insurrection, GOP lawmakers reveal a disturbing tendency to downplay or outright deny the severity of the attack. This behavior aligns with a broader pattern among many Republicans to minimize the insurrection, obstruct investigations and protect those—Trump particularly— who incited the violence. Such actions run counter to any genuine commitment to law and order, as they effectively condone an attack on the very foundations of democracy.

And the party’s response to this incident— accusing Democrats of politicizing the visit— is a classic example of gaslighting… attempting to deflect from their own reprehensible behavior by framing it as a reaction to Democratic provocations. This manipulative tactic seeks to obscure the reality that the GOP's own actions— booing, hissing, and walking out— were disrespectful and unpatriotic. The attempt to paint the honoring of the 2 officers as a political stunt illustrates the GOP’s unwillingness to confront the truth of January 6 and the bravery required to defend against it.

What Republicans are hoping no one catches onto is that what happened in Harrisburg is a microcosm of the broader failings of the GOP’s past it's shelf-life claim to law and order. It highlights their hypocrisy, their disrespect for true law enforcement heroes and their prioritization of political expediency over principles of justice and democracy, a clear indicator that the GOP cannot be trusted to credibly champion law and order.