Arizona Senate censured Wendy Rogers. Good. But it should kick her out

Arizona’s Republican-controlled Senate sent a powerful message on Tuesday by censuring Wendy Rogers on a 24-3 vote.

But that’s still not enough. She should be thrown out of the Arizona Senate for good.

No one who flaunts white supremacy or who calls for political enemies to be hanged on a “newly built set of gallows” deserves to serve the people of Arizona.

And those are just the latest awful things the far-right Republican senator has spewed.

Wendy Rogers has gone off a cliff

Rogers has gone over the cliff in worshipping white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and praising Russia’s Vladimir Putin over Ukraine’s Jewish president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Rogers hasn’t been shy about spewing her white supremacist tendencies, splashing them all over social media and at the America First Political Action Conference where she called for the group’s political enemies to be hanged.

So, no, Wendy. The Arizona Republicans condemning you and who voted to officially censure you aren’t after you just because you’re a “sweet, grandma who loves Jesus and America” or just because you’re “white.”

There is nothing “sweet” about wanting to hang political enemies or shrug off the Holocaust that killed millions of Jews. There is nothing “sweet” about siding with a brutal dictator over a democratically elected president, lying about a stolen election or promoting white supremacy over all other people.

A censure is just a slap on the wrist

On Tuesday, enough Republicans finally voted to censure Rogers, who had earlier vowed to “personally destroy” anyone who dares to vote for such a reprimand.

A visibly shaken Rogers defiantly told her colleagues that they were actually censuring the people she represents.

“I do not apologize. I will not back down,” she said.

Democratic Minority Leader Rebecca Rios said “we look hate in the eye,” while Democratic Sen. Raquel Terán called for her expulsion.

The Arizona Mirror had reported earlier about the Arizona Republicans who considered a formal censure of Rogers after she spoke at the white nationalist group AFPAC over the weekend.

But a formal censure is just a slap on the wrist that, in practice, means nothing. And even so, state Republicans initially weren’t tripping over each oth to do it.

That tells everything you need to know about many Arizona Republicans, including Gov. Doug Ducey, who said before the censure that he preferred Rogers over the idea of working with a Democrat.

It’s time to shut the door on white supremacy. Arizonans should demand a formal vote to remove Rogers instead of just censuring her. That would send the strongest message to her and everyone else spewing white supremacy.

The few Senate Republicans and everyone else still supporting Rogers are no better than she is. That goes for Ducey, too, who even after the censure vote didn’t have the courage to condemn Rogers by name.

Elvia Díaz is an editorial columnist for The Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter, @elviadiaz1.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sen. Wendy Rogers was censured. She should be kicked out