President Donald Trump isn't an outlier -- he's the embodiment of everything the Republican base wants in a leader, according to a new column.
The Daily Beast's Dean Obeidallah knocked down hopes that the Republican Party would become less extreme once Trump exits the stage, and showed there's a crop of Trump-endorsed GOP candidates who are just as unhinged.
"The result this past weekend in Virginia’s 5th congressional district GOP primary," Obeidallah writes, "where first term Rep. Denver Riggleman lost to Bob Good, a Christian-sharia-loving, anti-LGBTQ, anti-immigrant bigot, is just the latest example of where the GOP is heading with or without Trump."
Riggleman, a military vet and member of the right-wing Freedom Caucus, lost to Good, a longtime official at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University whose campaign centered around his opposition to abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest or even the life of the mother.
"If you think that is out of the step of where the GOP is heading, it’s because you haven’t been paying attention," Obeidallah writes.
Good's views on immigration are even more harsh and cruel that the president's, Obeidallah writes, and he opposes any civil rights for LGBTQ people.
"Now there is a difference between Good and Trump in terms of spewing racist garbage, Obeidallah writes. "Trump unabashedly did that starting the very first day of his 2016 campaign after descending his escalator. When it comes to Good, he let his surrogate do that for him and then refused to denounce him."
Good won the GOP primary with 58 percent of the vote, but he may face a steeper challenge in the general election for the sprawling and right-leaning 5th District that cuts north-south through the center of Virginia.
"If Good loses — and loses badly — it could deter other Republicans from advocating such far-right views," Obeidallah writes. "But history tells us don’t count on it. Trump and Good are not aberrations — they are the manifestations of what the GOP base wants. For that reason, expect to see a lot more of both in the years to come."