CNN’s John Avlon: Internal GOP Fight ‘Isn’t Between Trump and the Establishment; It’s Between Truth and Lies’
CNN senior political analyst John Avlon had a blunt take on the infighting currently roiling the Republican Party, calling it a “stupid civil war” that was not between former President Donald Trump and the establishment GOP, but rather “between truth and lies.”
Avlon appeared in a CNN Newsroom segment with his wife and frequent television commentary partner, Margaret Hoover, and the pair reacted to a recent interview with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), in which he repeatedly ducked questions about whether Trump bore responsibility for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“They’re afraid of the base,” Hoover told guest anchor Erica Hill. “They’re afraid of telling the truth to the base of the Republican party. It’s very clear. Mitch McConnell drew a line in the sand. The Republican party is divided between those who will continue to be fearful of Donald Trump and the way that he can embolden the base of the Republican Party and continue the ‘Big Lie,’ and the people who are willing to call the lie for what it was.”
The challenge, Hoover noted, was that Trump still had a major influence over the party, mentioning a recent Quinnipiac poll that said only 20 percent of Republicans thought the GOP should move away from Trump and more towards the establishment wing of the party.
“The choice isn’t between Trump and the establishment,” Avlon added, “it’s between truth and lies.”
“This is a stupid civil war,” he continued. If Scalise, who was part of House GOP leadership, “can’t answer the straightforward question whether Joe Biden is a legitimate president, he is either a fool, afraid, or a liar. And I don’t think he’s a fool, and I don’t think he’s a liar. So I think he’s afraid — and it makes him a liar.”
Avlon concluded that it was “simply unacceptable in American politics” to be acting out of fear of mean tweets, and rejecting facts at the expense of our democracy.
Watch the video above, via CNN.
