I think I’ll become a politician
There are a lot of things I鈥檇 like to become when I grow up.
(Granted, I鈥檓 already 72, so I鈥檇 better hurry.)
I think I just might become a Republican.
There! I just said it.
The only thing I鈥檇 have to avoid is telling the truth.
That鈥檚 gotten a few highly recognizable Republicans in big trouble these days.
U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, Republican from Utah, recently made an appearance at a GOP convention a few days ago. And when the venerable, lifelong Republican began giving his speech, he was called a 鈥渢raitor,鈥� and a 鈥渃ommunist.鈥�
That wasn鈥檛 nice.
His immediate response was, 鈥淵ou can boo all you like.鈥�
So, they did.
Then he proceeded to tell the assembled Republican malcontents he鈥檚 been a member of their party all of his life.
The boos got even louder.
All of this because he鈥檇 voted twice to convict Donald Trump during his two impeachment trials.
That has possibly sent his remaining years in the U.S. Senate into a tailspin.
Republicans don鈥檛 seem to like people who think for themselves.
Especially when it comes to thinking in opposition to that former, one-term, twice-impeached president, Donald Trump.
Romney has always been a rather moderate Republican.
Long before he became the senior senator from Utah, he proudly signed a health-care bill that would be, to some extent, the framework for Obamacare, when he was the governor of Massachusetts.
It didn鈥檛 matter to those booing Republicans at that Utah gathering that he鈥檇 been the party鈥檚 standard-bearer against Barack Obama in 2012.
All that mattered to many of them was that he鈥檇 voted against Trump.
He鈥檇 become a 鈥渃ommunist.鈥�
鈥淐ommunist鈥� is a word that leaps from the mouths of Republicans, when their inner Joe McCarthy oozes to the surface.
But Mr. Romney getting booed and called a communist, is mild compared to the new travails of that heretofore solid Republican Liz Cheney.
She鈥檚 Wyoming鈥檚 only congressional representative 鈥� and a powerful one at that.
Until Trump鈥檚 second impeachment, she voted with him 92.9% of the time.
But she made the mistake of joining nine Republicans in the U.S. House to impeach Trump.
That did it.
Even though she was the third highest-ranking Republican in the house, she faced a highly vocal campaign against her in February.
But she survived a vote that would have stripped her of her leadership role by a wide margin.
Yet, Cheney didn鈥檛 stop talking.
She鈥檚 consistently maintained that Trump鈥檚 nonsense about there being voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election is a lie.
That not only crosses Trump, but a recent CNN poll indicates that 100 days into President Biden鈥檚 presidency, 70% of Republicans still question his legitimacy.
All of this appears to be a distraction to a political party that would like to devote more time to more substantive issues, like attacking the folks who run Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head.
There鈥檚 just not enough time in each day to whine about insignificant stuff, I guess.
None of this is lost on Democrats, who are licking their chops with each signal that there鈥檚 a purity test for Republicans 鈥� tailor-made to please that unroyal-highness down in Mar-a-Lago.
Nothing could have rubbed him the wrong way more than that now-famous fist-bump between Biden and Cheney the night of Biden鈥檚 speech before the Joint Session of Congress on April 28.
It goes without saying, though, that Cheney is no real fan of Biden. She鈥檚 never going to agree with 90% of his policies.
But she was openly cordial to him for a moment that night.
That鈥檚 all it was.
I鈥檓 sure that infuriated many Republicans who see Biden, not as a political adversary, but a bitter enemy.
Politics in Washington has gotten to be that vicious.
This has largely been the residue of Trump鈥檚 hold on power, and his inability to give up that power.
Republicans, now, are engaged in a purge of people who don鈥檛 think as they do.
I鈥檒l admit I鈥檓 no political scientist.
But isn鈥檛 that really what communists used to do?
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 40-year TV news and newspaper veteran. Email him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.