Last updated on February 1st, 2021 at 10:38 am
House Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) blasted his violent, extremist Republican colleagues for turning American democracy into a middle eastern-style banana republic.
During an interview with MSNBC‘s Tiffany Cross on Saturday, the Ohio lawmaker said he has concerns about violence from his GOP colleagues, which reminds him of war zone countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We’re used to this when we travel to Iraq … or Afghanistan, and some people who end up getting elected are from a terrorist organization and everyone else in the parliament is worried about those people who may want to have violence,” Rep. Ryan said.
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“This is the first time we’ve really had to deal with this within,” he added.
Video:
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) blasts his extremist Republican colleagues for threatening the safety of Democratic lawmakers. pic.twitter.com/0BHsZZT6HH
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) January 30, 2021
Rep. Ryan said:
The speaker’s very concerned about it. I’m very concerned about it. And we’re in uncharted waters here, so, you know. We’re used to this when we travel to Iraq and they’re trying to assemble the parliament or, you know, in Afghanistan, and some people who end up getting elected are from a terrorist organization and everyone else in the parliament is worried about those people who may want to have violence. And this is the first time we’ve really had to deal with this within. And so, you know, we’ve got to be very, very careful in how we do it.
The GOP is still the extremist party of Donald Trump
There was some hope that once Donald Trump finally left office, the collective Republican fever would break and leave behind a more adult, reasonable GOP. The opposite appears to be happening.
With extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz becoming the new face of the party – and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy still bowing down to Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago – the GOP is still very much the MAGA party. And it looks as though it’s only going to become more dangerous and extreme.
Instead of working with Democrats to pass a much-needed COVID rescue plan and meet this moment of crisis, GOP lawmakers are threatening the lives of their Democratic colleagues. As a result, some have gotten fitted for bullet-proof vests or moved their offices to a safer location.
Thanks to an increasingly violent and radicalized Republican Party, Congress looks more like a middle eastern war zone than a place where government business is done.
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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.
