CNN Senior Political Analyst Equates MAGA Republican ‘Commitment To Democracy’ To The South Before The Civil War

CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for The Atlantic Ron Brownstein compared the atmosphere surrounding the GOP’s “tenuous commitment” to democracy to “The South in the decades before the Civil War.”

He appeared on CNN News Central Friday, where anchor Jim Sciutto read from a recent piece Brownstein wrote.

“Ron, you wrote quite a pointed piece for The Atlantic about the significance of most Republican voters, even if they’re a minority of all voters, but most Republican voters, who still believe the election was stolen from Trump, as you note, that the January 6th riot was a legitimate protest, that Trump’s efforts to subvert the results did not violate the law. You end by saying, ‘The dominant faction in one of our two major parties has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to accept anti-democratic means to advance its interests.’ Do you think that threat has gotten through to the public?”

“Yeah, look, it’s an incredibly — it’s an almost unprecedented situation,” Brownstein said, continuing:

Maybe The South in the decades before the Civil War had an equally tenuous commitment to democracy. And we certainly, as you noted, we’ve seen the officials right around Trump, as well as most Republican state officials in the key states, pushing back against his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. But in between, the vast majority of Republican elected officials have been on board.

Most Republican attorney generals going to sue to try to fraud the election. Republicans in the House voted to overturn the results. The few, the ones that have spoken out on these indictments, have basically echoed his claims that it’s all political.

“And it makes you wonder,” Brownstein concluded, “if he is the Republican nominee and doesn’t win, will there be any more resistance in the GOP to him executing anything short of a full-scale riot at the Capitol than there was last time?”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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