McCarthy, Lee court criminal vote with remarks about DOJ ‘overreach’

In their slavish support for former President Donald Trump amid a federal investigation over top-secret documents he kept at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, Republicans have begun openly courting the criminal vote. 

The purported party of “law and order” is becoming more averse to law enforcement as its dear leader’s legal liability becomes clearer. And in recent days, prominent figures in the party have openly supported people who allegedly terrorized others for their political views. Republicans have spent the past year and a half broadly supporting rioters who waged a deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol. And now they’re leaning in on the criminal vote in a desperate push to retake the House and the Senate in November.

At an event last week where he and others revealed the GOP’s anemic agenda, known as the “Commitment to America,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California made a ridiculous guarantee in an attempt to coddle conservatives who have been criticized for threatening school officials.

“I’ll make this personal pledge,” he said. “I don’t know if it happened, but any parent that got put on the terrorist watchlist by the DOJ, we’ll get you off it.”

First, let’s go over the facts. There’s no evidence whatsoever that any parent has been placed on the terrorist watchlist for angrily protesting against school officials. McCarthy, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York and their fellow conservatives have been pushing this lie — about the Justice Department’s unfairly targeting conservative parents — ever since the Justice Department warned last fall about a raft of right-wing threats toward school officials over inclusive lesson plans and Covid safety measures. 

Teachers across the country are still defending themselves from right-wing attacks and threats, proving that the strain of violent bigotry metastasizing throughout the conservative movement is alive and well. 

For that reason, I’m inclined to take McCarthy at his word: He will help any parent who ultimately is declared a terrorist get off the terrorism watchlist, no matter whether they deserve to be there. And he isn’t the only Republican using such rhetoric. 

Sen. Mike Lee of Utah went on Fox News over the weekend and decried the arrest of a Pennsylvania man who is accused of assaulting an abortion clinic volunteer as an example of Justice Department “overreach.” But he cherry-picked details and conveniently left out why the man had been arrested. 

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“In the last few days, we’ve seen some pretty glaring examples of what appear to be instances of overreach,” Lee told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. He added: “You’ve got a Catholic father of seven who formed a group designed to encourage young men to be faithful to their commitments who was arrested in front of his seven children just recently.”

He failed to mention that the man is accused of pushing a 72-year-old abortion clinic volunteer to the ground on two occasions.

For anyone curious: There’s no law preventing Catholic fathers from being arrested if they’re accused of engaging in violence. Not sure where Lee got the idea, but — and this is important — one’s religion doesn’t shield one from criminal liability. 

That having been said, the phenomenon we’re witnessing is a clear attempt by top Republicans to cast themselves as victims and help violent actors in their party do the same, all while depicting law officers who hold them accountable as oppressors.