Wednesday on CNN’s “The Lead,” anchor Jake Tapper asked former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) if it was “possible that the Republican Party is now the party of deranged bigots.”
Tapper asked, “In the last week or so, you were talking about the future of the Republican Party, if Trump wins or if he doesn’t. In the last week or so, two completely unhinged conspiracy theorists, both of them complete bigots as well, have won Republican congressional nominations, Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia in a Republican district and Laura Loomer in Florida in a district that leans Democratic.”
“President Trump has praised both of them, gone out of his way to say positive things about these really unlikeable candidates in terms of the things that they say and do,” Tapper continued. “Is it possible, congressman, is it possible that the Republican Party is now the party of deranged bigots and there isn’t a place in it any longer for a Charlie Dent?”
Dent said, “Well, look part of the reason I’m doing this today is because of what happened last week. I wrote an op-ed. I was on John King’s show, and we talked about the Qanon conspiracy candidate down in Georgia. 9/11 truther for Pete’s sake, and the president called this person a rising star. All this does is empower the whack jobs and the nuts to come out. And I think with strong leadership, we should be able to marginalize folks like that. And it’s really a sad state of affairs when the president endorses a 9/11 Truther. I grew up in a Republican party in Pennsylvania where we had people like Bill Stanton Sr. and Dick Thornburgh and really good solid people, responsible people. That was the party that I was always proud to be part of. And it’s a sad state of affairs. I can’t imagine any of them would’ve appreciated any of this that’s happening right now. And I think we need to have this debate about the future of the party and we need to get serious adults engaged. Because I have a lot of friends who are in Congress on the Republican side, I know they’re just as frustrated as I am. And they’re not in a position may be to say it as I can. But they’re frustrated, and they know this is very difficult and they’re all in a bad situation as is the party. And I can already see people angling for a post-Trump world. So I’m looking forward to that.”
He added, “I never thought in my wildest dreams a Republican president would be standing up there defending the Confederacy or Confederate symbols. How crazy is that? It’s just beyond belief to me, beyond description.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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