Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:26 pm
An actual member of Congress, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), flat out called for a violent uprising if the presidential election isn’t overturned for Donald Trump.
The GOP lawmaker’s disturbing but predictable comments come after a federal judge threw out Gohmert’s lawsuit seeking to give Vice President Mike Pence the authority to overturn the election.
“Bottom line is, the court is saying, ‘We’re not going to touch this. You have no remedy’,” Gohmert whined on Newsmax. “Basically, in effect, the ruling would be that you gotta go the streets and be as violent as Antifa and BLM.”
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Video:
Louie Gohmert on Newsmax: “But if bottom line is, the court is saying, ‘We’re not going to touch this. You have no remedy’ — basically, in effect, the ruling would be that you gotta go the streets and be as violent as Antifa and BLM.” pic.twitter.com/cZIdGTiQls
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 2, 2021
Of course, Rep. Gohmert didn’t stop at encouraging violence. He also added a touch of delusion, saying that it will be “the end of our republic” if Joe Biden is allowed to become president after having the nerve to win both the popular vote and Electoral College.
Video:
Gohmert says that if Congress doesn’t overturn Trump’s election loss, “it will mean the end of our republic, the end of the experiment in self-government.” pic.twitter.com/dHYqclOnlv
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 2, 2021
The Republican Party isn’t salvageable
If a Democratic member of Congress spewed the type of rhetoric that Louis Gohmert did about a violent government overthrow, that lawmaker would rightly be forced to resign and never show his or her face again.
But in a GOP infected by Trumpism, this type of dangerous nonsense from a member of Congress is a feature, not a bug. Encouraging violence and undermining trust in American democracy has essentially become the current platform of the Republican Party.
A GOP that elevates people like Donald Trump and Louie Gohmert is not a political party that can be salvaged.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
