CPAC was about more than Trump's cult — it's now cemented the GOP's authoritarianism

If you want a perfect emblem of the current state of Republican politics, look to the story of how Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., spent this past weekend. As Heather "Digby" Parton noted at Salon Monday morning, "Trump went out of his way to cancel a whole lot of Republicans he considers disloyal, promising to do everything in his power to 'get rid of 'em all,'" and then proceeded to name "every single GOP politician who voted for impeachment individually, his voice dripping with venom." Multiple panels and individual speakers hyped Trump's lies about how he is the "real" winner of the election, less out of mindless Trump worship and more because those lies fit their larger agenda: Denying the legitimacy of Democratic voters, especially voters of color. The "liberals aren't legitimate Americans" notion was baked directly into Trump's coup efforts, which — until the Captiol riot, anyway — were largely focused on throwing out the votes in big, liberal cities, by declaring these votes "corrupt" and "fake". Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas also pushed the violent fantasies of putting down Black Lives Matter protesters by declaring, "In Houston where I live, I have to tell you, there weren't any rioters because let's be very clear, if there had been, they would discover what the state of Texas thinks about the 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms."