berg80
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- Oct 28, 2017
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Stefanik, Fox News host clash over question about Trump
Rep. Elise Stefanik took exception to being asked about her loyalty to former President Donald Trump by a Fox News host Sunday morning.The New York Republican got into a heated exchange with “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream over a question about how her support of Trump has changed over time, which comes as she’s being floated as a potential running mate for Trump. Bream cited a New York Times article.
The Invention of Elise Stefanik
Elise Stefanik had had enough.In the wake of the 2018 midterms, the young congresswoman was sick of commuting to Washington from upstate New York and weary of dialing for campaign dollars. She was demoralized that Republican primary voters had spurned so many of the women she had helped persuade to run for Congress. She was annoyed that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the democratic socialist who had displaced her that fall as the youngest woman ever elected to the House, had not shown her the respect she felt was her due.
But it was bigger than that. For years, Ms. Stefanik had crafted her brand as a model moderate millennial — “the future of hopeful, aspirational politics in America,” as her mentor, Paul Ryan, would describe her in Time magazine. But as her third term unfolded, according to current or former friends and advisers, it was becoming painfully clear that she was the future of a Republican Party that no longer existed. The party was now firmly controlled by Donald J. Trump, a populist president she didn’t like or respect — a “whack job,” as she once described him in a message obtained by The New York Times. Fox hosts attacked her for not supporting Mr. Trump enough. Her friends criticized her for not opposing him more forcefully. You don’t understand, she would tell them. You don’t get how hard this is. Democrats were back in charge in the House. Mr. Ryan was gone, driven into early retirement. She told friends she was thinking of joining him.
Instead she embarked on one of the most brazen political transformations of the Trump era. With breathtaking speed and alacrity, Ms. Stefanik remade herself into a fervent Trump apologist, adopted his over-torqued style on Twitter and embraced the conspiracy theories that animate his base, amplifying debunked allegations of dead voters casting ballots in Atlanta and unspecified “irregularities” involving voting-machine software in 2020 swing states.
The Invention of Elise Stefanik (Published 2022)
To rise through the Trump-era G.O.P., a young congresswoman gave up her friends, her mentors and her ideals. Will it be enough?
In today's POT, to have one's loyalty to the MAGA god questioned is akin to being asked, "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the communist party?" There's a palpable sense of panic at the suggestion your devotion is not absolute. As if the eyes of the cult are upon you as you answer questions in a Star Chamber.
For fans of Harry Potter, it's reminiscent of Mary Cattermole being questioned by Delores Umbridge as to how Mary came in to possession of her wand. This, under threat of being sent to Azkaban. The analogy for MAGAist's is being excommunicated from the POT. A political kiss of death if you want a future in Don's party.
Concern over being charged with insufficient sycophancy explains the recent pilgrimage to NY by various Repubs. Some dressed in the official Trump outfit. Reading off the scripted list of talking points prepared for them in advance. It's a spectacle befitting the regurgitation of the party line in Pol Pot's Cambodia after a not so pleasant visit to a re-education camp. Their mouths moving but their eyes glazed over.
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