Extremists' knives are out for moderate Republicans

In its wake, the knives are out. Former House Speaker Tom Lubnau says Republicans are starting “to eat” their own. State Sen. Wendy Schuler called out some of her colleagues for their “lack of professionalism and integrity,” blaming those who recently arrived in Wyoming, and were elected before they learned anything about the history and culture of the state.

Albert Sommers has a bird’s-eye view as Speaker of the House. He points at extremists calling themselves “the Freedom Caucus.” Sommers believes they “want all Republicans to conform to a narrowly defined dogma,” asking, “Why do they incite fear and stoke anger?”

Sommers would know. He was targeted by the president of the State Freedom Caucus Network, who accused him of blocking bills favored by the far right. Demonstrating how divided the GOP is, Wyoming’s MAGA Congresswoman Harriet Hageman jumped on the pile, retweeting Andrew Roth’s post.

Ogden Driskill, president of the state Senate, called his chamber “a mean, divisive body.”

Amy Edmonds, a former Laramie County legislator with a long history of far-right activism, volunteered her opinion. “These fights weren’t just about the issues. They are deeper, more personal, uglier and more dangerous for the long-term health of our state. They truly reflected the animosity our nation is in the grips of right now.” Ms. Edmonds inquired, “So, what’s causing all of this?” Ironically, the answer is closer to her than she may admit.

Wyoming conservatism always teetered on extremism, engaged with the Klan, the Birchers and McCarthyism. Today’s rendition of the GOP is the offspring of Edmonds’ husband, Harlan. He emigrated to Wyoming in 1993, believing it was “a conservative sanctuary,” but found Wyoming “to be lousy with liberals and political opportunists.”

In his opinion, the Republican Party’s traditional goal of building a “big tent” was “insidious.” In 2012, Harlan Edmonds founded an organization called CROW, an acronym for Conservative Republicans of Wyoming. It worked to close the big tent’s flaps to “all but true red, white and blue conservatives.” Edmonds, like his wife, served a brief stint in the Wyoming Legislature. He is better remembered for the purity movement he started, which continues to infect the Republican Party to this very day.

Phil Roberts once headed UW’s history department. In 2012, this knowledgeable observer recalled, “Over much of the past half century, Democrats and Republicans in Wyoming cooperated to get things done for the benefit of the state. Rigid ideology and strident partisanship have not been part of it and, consequently, we’ve had a fairly good record of accomplishment with respect to dealing with the state’s problems.”

He viewed CROW as an evolutionary product of the John Birch Society, predicting CROW’s purity campaign would infect Wyoming politics with the dysfunction of national politics, characterized by “the stridency and refusal to compromise.”

Prophetic. Over a dozen years and six elections, moderates were targeted from the right and systematically defeated. Now the extremists want what’s left. Capable Republicans like Bob Nicholas and Bill Henderson and other moderates are being challenged by extremists in GOP primaries. The retirement of Sen. Affie Ellis’s rational voice doesn’t help.

Whether the Legislature can return to a place where rational people debate rational ideas in a rational manner or continues deteriorating into a mud-wrestling arena is up to voters. While hope springs eternal, evidence suggests the voters kinda like mud wrestling.

NOTICE: If you’re not a Republican, but want to help the GOP choose better candidates, change your party registration by May 15.