Former Republican House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) slams Donald Trump in his new book, saying that the former president "incited that bloody insurrection" at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and that the GOP has been taken over by "whack jobs."
But according to Natalie Shure writing in The New Republic, Boehner is now acting appalled "by a faction of the Right whose rise he actively facilitated."
Shure writes that the narrative the media is helping Boehner create is "utter baloney."
"Not only did Boehner himself boost those 'crazies' and arguably benefit from their rise, the entire Republican Party did as well," Shure writes. "In fact, whipping up that craziness has since become a key component of the Right's strategy to cobble together a coalition in support of its otherwise unpopular plutocratic agenda—which Boehner consistently upheld throughout his political career, and even now continues to serve from K Street."
Boehner tries to disclaim the current trend of Republican extremism, but Shure contends that the extremism he's condemning didn't start with Trump.
"It was Boehner's own wish list of policy prescriptives and political wedges that primed the pump for the Tea Party surge in the first place."
Read the full op-ed over at The New Republic.