1/ Moderate Republicans are the most important people in the world right now. More comments on the #ElectoralCollegelRiot from a political sociologist.
2/ Right now, we have a severe problem: as long as you can gather up a critical number of primary voters, you can do some very horrible things, like incite a riot that gets 2 police officers killed.
3/ So what can be done? Part of the solution is relatively easy: criminal charges. We need a bright line. Free speech is ok, riots should be met with prison sentences every time.
4/ But part of the solution is much harder. Getting moderate Republican politicians and voters to punish people. They have more power to fix the situation than any other group right now.
5/ We've seen some honorable exceptions, like Corker and Schwarzenegger, and that is promising. But we've seen a suprising level of silence from the groups that are important moderate parts of the GOP coalition.
6/ There is at least one report that GOP legislators supported disputing the election because of fears of personal safety. alternet.org/2021/01/rep-pe…
7/ Shreiking democrats will not solve this problem, even though they need to keep the pressure on. Moderate Republican voters and interest groups need to step up in much larger numbers and say, "we have your back. You can be anti-Trump and safe and keep your seat."
8/ If we really want to banish the hoodlum wing of the party, we need an army of police unions, lady's republican clubs, and business groups to say "enough is enough."
9/ Bottom line: Sadly, we will always have people who are thugs, xenophobes, and racists. The issue is how the middle treats them. It is time for the Republican middle to take their party. If it is not now, it's never.
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