Oh hey, it's another bus tour, brought to you by hard-right Republicans doing hard-right Republican grifty things! We've seen them before, and we'll see them again. But this time is a little different. ABC News reports that this time they're taking aim at each other.
Steve Bannon associate Dustin Stockton is launching the "MAGA Sellout Tour" in order to aim at Republican representatives who voted for Donald Trump's impeachment. Apparently the sales pitch here is that they've betrayed Dear Leader and therefore need a fascist in each district to step up for a primary challenge to each of them.
Posting on Substack, Stockton is plain about the goal of the well-funded circular firing squad: "To date we've identified 13 unlucky Republicans up for reelection in 2022 who MUST BE DEFEATED. We will be visiting each of their districts to recruit and vet primary challengers in the coming months."
REPUBLICANS IN DISARRAY!
Stockton is acting on behalf of an AstroTurf organization, of course. During his March for Trump days, he partnered with Amy Kremer, a long-time Republican operative who ran "Women for America First," one of the organizers of the January 6th Sedition Rally. Long-time readers may recall Kremer from her Tea Party Express effort in 2009-2010, where she was tasked with stoking discontent about the Affordable Care Act and the 2009 Recovery Act to pull the country from the Great Recession. Or perhaps her more recent support for child molester Roy Moore?
Lest you thought these far-right people were fringe, think again. This is the mainstream of the Republican Party, sending their "influencers and activists" out to take aim at...The Republican Party. It's all part of the grift. Anyone who wants to support that Great American MAGA Sellout Tour can toss in $2200 at the link in the Substack article. That's the default setting on their page. I'm pretty sure that's not a "grassroots" effort.
Oh, and let's not forget churches. That's right, churches are part of this, according to Stockton. "We will be able to turn out crowds in each one of these stops," Stockton said. He adds, "The group will be partnering up with local churches to hold events."
Yes, it's the churches we need to scrutinize carefully with regard to this. I'll be looking to see which churches host this tour and whether they will hold these events on their tax-exempt church property.
None of this is new. Republicans do bus tours all the time to foment discontent. The only difference this time is that they're doing it to their own side. That's novel.
