Extremely Reasonable and Normal Republicans
The rhetoric by the Fascist Party at Turning Point Action was very healthy for a democracy.
The right-wing Turning Point Action held a two-day conference earlier this month in West Palm Beach Florida. Three Ohioans were among the leading figures in Republican politics who made their way to the sunshine state.
Republican U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, U.S. Senate hopeful Bernie Moreno, and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy took turns throwing red meat to the crowd.
Since early in his own 2022 primary race, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-OH, has been a contrarian when it comes to the war in Ukraine. Few politicians have been as forceful in opposition to the U.S. offering support. At the Turning Point Action Conference, he doubled down.
“When I was thinking about what to say today, I thought to myself, what is the most important truth that I could come across in 15 minutes?” Vance said. “What is the truth that the media and the culture and the political elites in this country are obsessed with silencing?”
“And there’s an easy answer,” he said. “And that’s the Ukraine war is a disaster, and we need to get our country out of it once and for all.”
Vance acknowledged some are likely “sick” of hearing him say it but insisted “I’m here to defend America.” He criticized Ukraine for suspending presidential elections and the U.S. for sending them cluster bombs. He questioned the logic of supporting Ukraine to deter China from similar aggression against Taiwan.
He went on to make a kind of Christian nationalist or pan-Christian argument for isolationism. The U.S. is the largest majority christian nation in the world, he said.
“And every single time that we fought a war it has led to the decimation of the Christian population in the place we go and fight,” Vance said. “Did the Marines and soldiers sign up for that? Do they sign up to destroy the Christian population of Syria? of Lebanon? of Iraq? No, I don’t think so.”
Vance agued political leaders are backing Ukraine to distract from bad news at home.
“You know what the life expectancy is for a middle-class person in America compared to a middle-class person in Western Europe right now? 12 years lower,” Vance said.
Vance didn’t say where he found that stat. According to a Peterson & Kaiser Family Foundation tracker, at the end of 2022, the disparity was closer to six years. Deaths from COVID-19 dragged U.S. life expectancy lower.
Remember that time, less than a decade ago, when liberals fell all over themselves to read Vance’s book? That was a good time.