Self-serving Republicans are endorsing MAGA extremists

This summer the political environment improved for Democrats. Congress passed three significant pieces of legislation. The CHIPS and Science Act provided funds for the research and development of semi-conductors in the United States. The PACT Act expanded health care and benefits for veterans of the armed services who have been exposed to toxic substances. The Inflation Reduction Act reduced the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare recipients and provided substantial resources to address the urgent challenges of climate change.

The Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade enraged and energized Democratic and many independent voters. Meanwhile, the Republicans nominated extremist candidates, who are struggling to attract support outside their MAGA base in the midterm elections.

Polls indicate an increase in Americans’ approval of President Biden’s performance in office. The threat to democracy has supplanted inflation as the issue that concerns them the most. For the first time in months, a plurality of Americans want Democrats to retain control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

That said, the summer surge for Democrats may have run its course. And MAGA extremists are within striking distance of winning races in battleground states.

One reason is that self-serving Republican enablers are endorsing them.

In the run-up to the Arizona Republican gubernatorial primary, Kari Lake — a charismatic former news anchor who maintains that God did not create women “to be equal to men,” the Second Amendment protects individual ownership of rocket launchers and opponents of cameras in classrooms are assisting pedophiles — doubled down on her claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Lake also called for the imprisonment of Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who subsequently won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

Former Gov. Jan Brewer (R) blasted Lake’s campaign as mean, untruthful, and irrelevant to important public policies. Current Gov. Doug Ducey (R) blasted Lake for “misleading voters” and putting on an act. Ducey certified Arizona’s 2020 election results.

When it appeared she might lose her primary, Lake indicated that fraud would be rampant on election day, but refused to share her evidence with reporters or state election officials. When she won a narrow victory, Lake pronounced the result “a blowout” and praised her supporters for “outvoting” the fraud.

Gov. Ducey did a 180.

He congratulated Lake on a “hard fought victory,” and added, “This is going to be an important election given the issues our state is facing and it’s important for Arizona Republicans to unite behind our slate of candidates.” That slate also includes election deniers Blake Masters (the U.S. Senate nominee) and Mark Finchem (the nominee for Arizona Secretary of State).

The latest polls indicate that the Arizona gubernatorial race is a virtual dead heat.

In the run-up to the Pennsylvania gubernatorial primary, many Republican politicians concluded that the extremist views of Doug Mastriano, rendered him unelectable, even during a “red wave” election. Mastriano has rubbed shoulders with QAnon conspiracy theorists; said same sex marriage should “absolutely not” be legal, that mask mandates are “child abuse” and that the Islamic faith is incompatible with the U.S. Constitution. He claimed that as governor, “I get to decertify any and all voting machines in the state.” Kim Ward (R), the state senate majority leader, predicted “Democrats will destroy him with swing voters.”

When Mastriano won the nomination, Ward told reporters he “has my full support.”

Andy Reilly, Pennsylvania’s representative on the Republican National Committee, said, “When you play team sports, you learn what being part of the team means.” And Ducey, co-chair of the Republican Governors’ Association, asserted, “The job of the RGA is to elect Republican governors and that’s what we’re going to do in this cycle.”

Some prominent Pennsylvania Republicans have endorsed Josh Shapiro, Mastriano’s Democratic opponent, but the word “former” precedes almost every one of their titles.

The latest polls indicate that Mastriano is behind, but the race may be getting tighter.

At least 195 election deniers (and dozens more “doubters”) are on the ballot in 2022, including one in every three Republican candidates for statewide office, and a majority of Republicans seeking seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Among active GOP officeholders throughout the country, only Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has been visible and vocal, dismissing Dan Cox, his party’s gubernatorial nominee, as a “QAnon whack job.” Hogan, it’s worth noting, will soon join the ranks of the “formers.”

In less than two months, Americans will cast their ballots.

Republican enablers will be missing in action — but not, one hopes, well-informed Republican voters who put country over party.

Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. He is the co-author (with Stuart Blumin) of “Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in the Nineteenth Century.”