As Republicans Retire, The Alt-Right Rises
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Last Thursday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia announced that he won’t seek re-election in 2018. Goodlatte joins a number of other Republicans who have decided to step down. In total, 29 House Republicans have already announced they’re stepping down from their seats, as well as two prominent Republican Senators, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee.
In addition to having big ramifications for midterm elections and potentially flipping the House of Representatives in 2018, these string of announcements also represent something else: An exodus of the old guard of the GOP, and the ushering in of the Trump and Bannon wing of the party.
Cheryl Chumley, opinion editor at The Washington Times, is a Trump supporter who is happy to see the old guard of the Republican Party go away.
David Neiwert has been following right wing extremism in this country for decades. He says we should all take note of this new wave of retirement announcements. He argues that the alt-right is becoming ever more powerful under President Trump, and he says they are intent on pushing out moderates and bringing on authoritarian rule.
“A lot of people are coming up against the reality that they either have to sign on with Trump or they'll just be going down with the ship so it's a couple of bad choices that Republicans are faced with,” says Neiwert.
Neiwert is the author of “ALT-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in The Age of Trump.” Here, he explains where the alt-right is going, and where it all began.
This segment is hosted by Todd Zwillich
