Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that the Republican Party had become a “cult” of former President Donald Trump.
He added that the GOP did not want minorities to participate in elections.
Discussing a conservative think tank, Schiff said, “Seeing the Claremont Institute, seeing these institutes giving some kind of intellectual cover to what is just a scandalous effort, the Republican Party and infrastructure like that institute are now an anti-truth, anti-democratic cult of a former president. Who would have imagined such a thing could happen in this country.”
He continued, “There is a sustained effort before the election, during the election, and after the election to this day to discredit the whole idea that we can still rely on elections to decide who should govern. If you pull that pillar of our democracy out, it comes crumbling down, and what is left other than violence? If you can’t trust the ballot box t0 resolve differences, what is left but violence? It’s what led to January 6 and what may lead to further violence.”
Schiff added, “Joy, I think you’re absolutely right about the subtext here. If Republicans lose elections, it’s because of people who are Black and Brown and don’t look like White America, and therefore it is inherently invalid and illegitimate. Because I think the subtext is they feel that minorities should not be participating if they’re going to be decisive in an election. You know, I think when you look at those who attack the Capitol that day with their Confederate flags and Auschwitz t-shirts, there is no separating this insurrection from the white nationalist motivation behind it.”
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