State Republican Parties Embrace Qanon, False Flag, Stolen Election Conspiracies

If you think the Trump-Qanon crazies have only invaded the GOP at the national level, think again. Vox reports:

Donald Trump’s departure from the White House left a giant question mark hanging over American democracy: Would the GOP reckon with its embrace of Trumpism, or would it continue down the extremist path it has been traveling for years?

The evidence from the past few weeks has not been promising. But one of the most disturbing signs — and one of the most underappreciated — has been the wild behavior of certain state-level Republican parties in recent days. Three examples — in Oregon, Hawaii, and Arizona — really stick out.

On January 19, the Oregon Republican Party passed a resolution condemning the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump.

In that resolution, the state party ludicrously claimed that “there is growing evidence that the violence at the Capitol was a ‘false flag’ operation designed to discredit President Trump,” warning of “a frightening parallel to the February 1933 burning of the German Reichstag” and “Leftist forces seeking to establish a dictatorship void of all cherished freedom and liberties.”

This Saturday, the official account of the Hawaii Republican Party sent tweets defending QAnon believers and praising the “generally high quality” work of a YouTuber named Tarl Warwick, who has denied the Holocaust.

The party deleted and condemned the tweets; the communications official who sent them resigned. But this is not the first dance with extremism from the Hawaii state party: In 2020, the founder of the Proud Boys Hawaii, Nick Ochs, ran for a statehouse seat under the party’s banner. Ochs later participated in the storming of the Capitol and was arrested at Honolulu’s airport on January 9.

Also on Saturday, the Arizona Republican Party passed official resolutions censuring three prominent party members — Gov. Doug Ducey, former Sen. Jeff Flake, and Sen. John McCain’s widow Cindy McCain — for supposed deviation from GOP ideology. 

I have written about how stupid the Arizona move is.  Arizona is a battleground state that had more Republicans crossing over to vote for Democrat Joe Biden than any other state in the country.  Attacking principled Arizona Republicans doesn't seem like way of reviving the GOP in that state.

Then you have the Texas GOP led by former Floridian congressman Allen West who has suggested the Lone Star State should secede from the union.  West has asked supporters to follow it on the media app "Gab" which is home to right wing extremists and Qanon conspiracy believers.

OOP's short takes:

• It turns out in that Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Qanon) in 2018 and 2019 indicated support on Facebook for the execution of Democrats.  But, hey, don't worry.  Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he's going to have a talk with her.  That should do it.
• During a vote yesterday, 45 of 50 Republicans took the position that the Senate can't convict an impeached ex-President, i.e. that the impeachment clause only applies to current officeholders.  While I don't agree with that assessment, it's not exactly a shock that they GOP Senators are taking that easy exit ramp.  
• Yesterday on the Bulwark podcast, James Wallner, a professor of political science at American University, took the position that the impeachment clause does not apply to ex-officeholders and thus the Senate cannot convict Trump on the impeachment charge because he is no longer President.  When podcast host Charlie Sykes pointed out that Wallner's approach was nonsensical as it would allow an impeached officeholder to avoid disqualification by simply resigning (free to run again later), Wallner said that such person would face other legal proceedings, such as criminal prosecution.  Wallner (as well as perhaps Sykes) seemed unaware that federal courts have held that conviction of a person for a felony does not disqualify that person from running for federal office.  If my iffy 14th Amendment option (discussed below) doesn't work, then the only option for disqualification is through the impeachment clause.  Even if Trump is sitting in a prison cell, convicted of multiple felonies, he can still be a candidate for President in 2024.
• I still think both houses of Congress should pass a censure resolution, only needing a majority vote, condemning President Trump for his efforts at overturning the election results. and fomenting the January 6th attempted insurrection.  As part of that effort, Congress should use the 14th Amendment, Section 3 to disqualify him from ever serving in any elected office ever again.  (That section clearly applies to officeholders who are no longer in office.)  Opponents of this approach point out the uncertainty of who, under Section 3, decides whether the person was involved in an insurrection, or even if  "executive officer" applies to the President.  My response is, who cares?  Put the ball in Trump's and his Republican allies court to prove that it does not.  This approach would make Republicans in Congress vote up or down on Trump's behavior without the easy impeachment off-ramp provided by the fact Trump is no longer in office.