Former chief strategist for the Bush-Cheney 2004 presidential campaign Matthew Dowd said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that Republicans had “basically decided to secede from our democracy.”

Dowd said, “If you think about this, they completely adapted an ends justify the means approach to the democracy, which means it doesn’t matter what we do as long as we get the end we want. I was thinking about this a lot. This is almost a 21st-century version of succession if you really think about it because their goal is to preserve the culture they want, the power they have and the way of life they want. They’re not doing it in the same way that was done in 1861. But they’re doing it in such a way that demolishes our democracy. And in their mind, they’re able to preserve what they want in the course of this.”

He continued, “That’s what we have gotten down to is this idea that no means are off. No means are off basis. No means are off basis. I mean, you still have two-thirds of Republicans that do not think Joe Biden was legitimately elected. 2.5 years later, they still think he was not legitimately elected. It’s an incredibly dangerous thing that one of the major political parties has basically decided to secede from our democracy.

Host Joy Reid said, “They’re not just banning books, they’re banning Republicans losing elections. It is remarkable stuff.”

Dowd said, “It is modern, it’s succession in the 21st century. It really is.”

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