Sunday on MSNBC’s “AM Joy,” Washington Post opinion writer Jennifer Rubin accused the Republican Party of being a cult of President Donald Trump to the point they are denying the extent of the coronavirus pandemic to fit the president’s narrative.
Host Joy Reid said, “Jennifer, I have to go to you, and I apologize to make you have to answer for the Republican Party, but you are my only former Republican that I know of guests here. Can you explain this to me because I have never understood why you would run for office and want to be a governor, be a public servant and then essentially condemn your own constituents to sickness and maybe death? I don’t understand Ron DeSantis. I don’t get it. This guy is reopening Disney World. He is demanding that kids go back to school all because he must please Donald Trump. Again, it’s that golden calf narrative. He worships Trump so that if Trump says no, I say no. I don’t understand why you think you could, a, get reelected doing that because people are going to die, and second, do you not understand that you are condemning your own supporters? Right? Because the Democrats in your state are going to be like we’re not going to follow you.”
Rubin said, “Joy, you are under the misconception that these people run for office to do good, to help people, to solve problems. In fact, they are there for their own veneration for their own celebrity. It is far more important that they keep their audience than their constituents happy. These people are in an ideological never-never land. In order to keep themselves in good standing, they have to wreak havoc on their own population. That’s why you see them devolve into just denial because what else are they going to do? And even when people are dying, this is the sickness of a cult, which has become the Republican Party. The Republican Party that’s become a cult is that even when people are dying, they still stick to this narrative because that is their reason for being, for being part of this conservative media universe in which they get pats on the head, they get rewarded, they get cheers for sounding like Donald Trump.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN