three weeks from the midterm elections in the United Statesno one knows for sure which of the two parties, Republican or Democrat, will emerge victorious in elections in which not only control of Congress but also some governorships and other key positions at the state level will be at stake.
What is clear, however, is that the (Republican) elephant party will be represented, in large part, by far-right candidates, ultra-nationalists and even devout believers in cults like Qanona conspiracy movement that has gained strength in recent years and according to which there is a satanic sect in the United States dedicated to the sexual abuse of minors that opposes former President Donald Trump.
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The Republican class of 2022, for the most part, is also made up of candidates who deny Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election, and are those who defend the violent takeover of the Capitol on January 6, promising not to certify the results of future elections. if their rivals win the contests.
That added to the fact that they have ignored the more than 50 courts throughout the country and electoral authorities -including those dominated by Republicans- that They denied the existence of the alleged fraud that Trump denounced.
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In fact, recent studies carried out by means such as the The Washington Post, The New York Times and the Cook Report They maintain that at least 370 of the candidates who will stand for these elections are “deniers” of the electoral results.
In the case of Congress, the most vital election of all, 70 percent of the candidates in this party have defended this thesis without support in reality.
Of course, not everyone is going to win. But according to the most recent polls, there is a high probability that many will be elected and they will be enough to greatly influence both the party’s agenda and the direction of the entire country.
Something similar to what happened in the 2010 elections when many representatives of the so-called Tea Party, a movement of conservatives in fiscal terms that put in check the establishment of the Republican party.
“This group that is coming is the Tea Party but to the tenth power. The Tea Party defended extreme visions but based on reality. What is happening now is people who come from the darkest political corners, where things like climate change are denied or white supremacy is defended, ”says Ruth Ben-Giat, professor of history at New York University.
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The current movement is defined by another factor that is very different from everything that has gone before and that comes down to the enormous power that Trump still has over the party’s bases. Despite his resounding defeat, the former president has not stopped insisting on fraud and has conditioned his support on the candidates doing the same.
The very establishment of the Republican party, aware of this danger, endorsed or campaigned for more moderate candidates, but who ultimately ended up defeated in the primaries. And now, already in the final stretch of the campaign, they have been forced to defend them publicly to defeat their Democratic rivals.
But in doing so, Ben-Giat argues, have “normalized” their views of extreme.
What has most surprised the experts is that people who at another time in history had been ineligible today are close to coming to power. Not necessarily because the general public also defends those views, but because of the degree of polarization of politics in the country where the opposition is not a rival but rather the enemy.
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Democrats also face an adverse electoral climate given the delicate economic situation that exists due to the high levels of inflation that have increased the cost of living.
In fact, a recent poll by The New York Times and Siena College indicates that a majority of Americans will favor Republican candidates in the next election (49 percent versus 45 percent).
The current thing is people who come from the darkest political corners, where things like climate change are denied or white supremacy is defended
The bulk of analysts in the country take it for granted that the Republicans will recover the House of Representatives and very likely the Senate as well. However, control of the upper house is still in doubt, precisely because of the profile of some of its candidates.
The most notorious case, due to the impact it could have when defining the legislative majority in this body, is that of Herschel-Walker, a former football player endorsed by Trump who is fighting for a Senate seat in the state of Georgia. A staunch defender of electoral fraud and an opponent of abortion, Walker was recently accused by an ex-girlfriend of having paid for this type of procedure on two occasions.
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One of his sons alleges that both he and his mother were victims of his physical abuse, while another former partner maintains that he tried to strangle her. Although there is evidence for it – the statement of a payment of $ 700 to finance the abortion and police reports of the abuse – Walker denies it.
But it is not only the deep contradictions, but their political approaches that are worrying. The former soccer player, for example, does not believe in evolution and cites as proof of them that “the apes have not changed in all these years”.
Speaking of climate change, he says that “the good air that existed in the United States went to China and displaced the bad air from them, which then came here.”
Despite this, Walker could defeat his opponent, Baptist minister Raphael Warnock, who represents the Democrats.
is also Marjorie TaylorGreen, the House representative from Georgia who is up for re-election. Green is an outspoken advocate of white nationalism and at one point she said that Democrats should be “executed.” Also, she is a believer in QAnon and other conspiracy theories. She was seen two years ago – when she first won the seat – as an uncomfortable figure for the Republican party due to her extreme positions. To the point that she was disavowed on several occasions by the leadership of this collectivity, such as when she defended Russian President Vladimir Putin or for her anti-Semitic comments.
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But for some time now, they have become the new face of the party to the point that it is outlined for positions of power in the new Congress if the Republicans win the majority.
Another candidate is Anthony Sabatania representative from Florida who often quotes Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and recently said that public education should be abolished, considering it an indoctrination center for communism, and replaced by Christian schools.
In Nevada, Adam Laxalt is running for a seat in the Senate. a “thoroughbred” denier who defended tooth and nail and with lawsuits Trump’s victory in the last elections and he has said that if he comes to power he will ensure that something like this does not happen again despite the fact that the judicial and electoral authorities of the state have certified on multiple occasions that Biden won transparently.
In Pennsylvania, the Republicans are represented by Mehmet Oz, a doctor who became famous for his television programs in which he has promoted ineffective treatments against covid-19 and has opposed, among other things, the use of vaccines for prevention. of the illness. Oz, as in the case of Laxalt, rose to stardom because of his closeness to Trump.
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While Kerry Lake, who aspires to the governorship of Arizona, has equated migrants – like Trump in 2016 – with sexual rapists and criminals. But he wants to go further. According to the candidate, the migrants are an “invading army” and therefore she has proposed invoking an article of the constitution that allows the use of all necessary resources -including the military- to win this “war”.
Also from Arizona, the Senate candidate Blake Masters believes that the war between Russia and Ukraine is a “European problem” in which the US should not get involvedhas called for militarizing the border with Mexico and believes illegal immigration is a macabre plan by the Democrats to dilute the power of whites in the country.
That to cite just a few examples in this new “class” of Republicans who very soon, everything indicates, will be pulling the strings of power in Washington.
SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI
Correspondent of THE TIME
Washington
On twitter: @sergom68
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