Offensive remarks from former President Donald Trump, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and other far-right MAGA Republicans are flooding the news, but a recent analysis warns Americans not to let themselves get distracted.
Trump's "the enemy within" and Vance's "childless cat ladies" comments have received scathing analysis, and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' attack on Vice President Kamala Harris for not having biological children was widely slammed as hateful and mean-spirited.
But in an article published Tuesday, The New Republic's Kate Aronoff argued that the most "dangerous" thing about Republicans isn't the "outlandish things" they say — it's what they are quietly planning behind the scenes.
READ MORE:How Trump could pull off 'a real coup' if he loses to Harris: report
"From J.D. Vance falsely claiming that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are eating pets to Trump railing against domestic 'enemies,'" Aronoff wrote, "Republicans' more unhinged talking points have gotten a lot of airtime this election season.
“That's understandable: that rhetoric is dangerous in its own right, fueling very real threats to the people Republicans are targeting."
Aronoff goes on to say, however, that it is a "mistake to see the candidates who say the most outlandish things as the ones who pose the biggest threat."
She added, "Arguably more dangerous are the kind of well-considered plans being put forward by the likes of the American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC), a lobby group whose internal strategy documents were recently leaked by the climate nonprofit Fieldnotes. … There's nothing especially outlandish about a trade association advocating for policies that will pad their members' bottom lines; that's the reason these groups exist. Unsurprisingly, as AXPC's leaked policy roadmap shows, those policies are easier to come by if Republicans control more parts of the federal government."
Aronoff, however, isn't saying that offensive comments by Republicans should be ignored — only that it's important to look behind the scenes as well.
READ MORE: Donald 'let me believe' in abortion rights: Melania Trump
"Republicans say a lot of bizarre and dangerous things these days that deserve attention," Aronoff wrote. "But at the same time, fixating on whatever wild thing MAGA World says about wind turbines creating bird graveyards might well be helping to pull attention away from the GOP and its donors' quieter, more dangerous plans for how to govern — and their similarly quiet efforts to build bipartisan consensus for implementing them."
Read Kate Aronoff's full article for The New Republic at this link.