Republicans have adopted a destructive new ideology -- and should no longer be considered 'conservatives': columnist

Writing in The Washington Post this Tuesday, columnist Max Boot says that in the past, Republicans would have praised the police officers who faced down the rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, but as it turns out, they now only "back the blue" when officers "are accused of employing excessive force against minorities."

"The right these days bashes not only the military and law enforcement but also every other institution that it accuses of having been taken over by 'the left' — which means almost every national institution except the Supreme Court and, heaven help us, Fox 'News' Channel," Boot writes.

Corporations are under fire from conservatives for rejecting Donald Trump's election lies, schools and universities are also being targeted for teaching about racism and slavery, and "most sinister" of all, science and medicine is being targeted for attempting to stop a pandemic that has killed over 600,000 Americans.

"Why demonize Fauci? In part to absolve Trump of responsibility for mishandling the pandemic," Boot writes. "But this is also part of a wider attempt to delegitimize the medical community's guidance on how to fight the outbreak. In the name of 'medical freedom,' Republicans are protecting the freedom to spread the plague."

"There are many ways to describe this attitude — childish, irresponsible, destructive, nihilistic — but 'conservative' isn't one of them."

Read the full op-ed over at The Washington Post.