GOP strategist: Kevin McCarthy is a 'coward' for pandering to 'semi-fascist' MAGA

On Tuesday's edition of CNN's "The Lead," longtime Republican strategist Peter Wehner responded to the explosion of outrage from Republican officials — chiefly from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) — over President Joe Biden referring to former President Donald Trump's most fervent supporters as "semi-fascist."

Biden was completely correct to use that term, argued Wehner, a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and both George Bushes, and a frequent critic of the former president — and the real dishonor goes to Kevin McCarthy, who in fact knows this is a serious problem within the Republican base and can't bring himself to do anything about it.

"So there was a lot of criticism by House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and others when President Biden used the term 'semi-fascist' to describe this Trump MAGA movement," said anchor Jake Tapper. "But what do you call it? I mean, law enforcement and your opponents, your political opponents are enemies. They talk about locking people up because they disagree with them. They're trying to overturn the election. I'm not using the term for it, but if 'semi-fascist' isn't the right term, what is?"

"I think 'semi-fascist' works," said Wehner. "I think a lot of political scientists could argue the political term that is best, but underneath it all is this movement, this mindset, this disposition to attack democracy and attack truth. That's what's happening. It's not a semantic. Kevin McCarthy, to object to this — he went through, he was a lapdog for trump using the most extreme rhetoric, including what we saw over the weekend."

"Trump has called plenty of people fascists, by the way," noted Tapper. Wehner agreed, noting furthermore that Biden "qualified" his "semi-fascist" label to only be referring to people who engage in violence or coup plots, or who support those efforts, and that the GOP is simply "eager to be offended."

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"They're always going on the offensive. They're lashing out. That's the temper and the mood of the base," Wehner said of McCarthy and other Republican leaders. "And they're cowards. They're hollow men, to use a phrase from T.S. Elliott, and they're doing whatever the base wants. That combination of Trump and a radicalized base and a timid and cowardly political leadership in the Republican Party has created a real danger to democracy. This is a tinderbox and these guys are using blowtorches."

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