'A disgraceful display of political arrogance': Editorial buries GOP over new speaker
The editorial board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch dropped the hammer on House Republicans for making Rep. Michael Johnson (R-LA) the new speaker, pointing out that his attempts to help Donald Trump subvert the 2020 presidential election should disqualify him from public office.
In a biting editorial published on Friday, the board pointed to a post-speaker election press availability when a raucous assemblage of far-right House colleagues shouted down a reporter's question about Johnson's part in trying to undercut the will of the voters and keep Donald Trump in office.
As the editors noted, they disagree with Johnson's stand on just about everything — but that shouldn't be disqualifying.
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What is disqualifying, they wrote, was his attempt to undermine democracy by taking the lead in the House in a plot to steal the election.
Calling the press conference where Rep. Virginia Fox (R-NC) repeatedly shouted "shut up" at the reporter "a disgraceful display of political arrogance," the editors added it was "a reminder that most of the GOP House majority still doesn’t get it."
"The entire attempt to overturn the 2020 election was an illegitimate, arguably criminal, demonstrably dangerous attack on Americans’ fundamental right to have their votes counted. Any involvement in it at all should be politically disqualifying. Instead, one of democracy’s assailants now has one of America’s biggest gavels," they accused.
"True conservatives, who traditionally care about rule of law and fealty to the Constitution, should consider that the House is now led by a man who assertively attempted to disenfranchise millions of voters at the behest of a president determined to hold onto power despite having been voted out of office," they continued before concluding, "That is not conservative at all. And it should give pause to anyone, of any party or political philosophy, who values democracy."
You can watch a clip of the "disgraceful' press conference below.
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