A GOP official wants to 'lynch' Stephen Richer. How can anyone tolerate this?

In a serious world, a GOP leader who says she would lynch another GOP leader would automatically be disqualified.

There would be only one question. Did you say it?

It’s on tape. Unless it’s some deep fake, the evidence seems irrefutable.

There would be a red line. Her conduct would have crossed it. Her colleagues would expel her from party leadership, and that would be that.

But we don’t live in a serious world.

Arizona has a dark history of shootings

We live in the clown world of national populism that has placed someone as unhinged as Shelby Busch as first vice chair of the Maricopa County Republican Committee.

It gives her a platform in which she can tell fellow Republicans, “If Stephen Richer walked in this room, I would lynch him.”

She was almost certainly joking. It doesn’t matter. It’s vile.

We don’t joke about assassinating political leaders.

In the last three decades in Arizona, we’ve seen a county supervisor shot for her vote, a congresswoman shot in the head at a meet and greet and another Arizona member of Congress threatened by a gunman in suburban D.C.

So, only Christians can work together?

In a serious world, the party would have seen the warning signs long ago that Busch is a zealot.

More responsible leaders would have been repelled by someone who describes the party as an exclusive club for Christians.

Here’s what she said:

“Let’s pretend that this gentleman over here was running for county recorder, and he’s a good Christian man who believes what we believe. 

“Well, we can work with that. That’s unity. That’s saying we’re going to shake hands and we’re going to agree that we’re going to run a good Christian-foundation campaign and we’re going to treat each other well. And we’re going to get through this together. That’s unity.

“But If Stephen Richer walked in this room I would lynch him. I don’t unify with people who don’t believe in the principles we believe in and the American cause that founded this country.” 

Is there room for others in the GOP?

This is rank idiocy and emotional immaturity.

It also reeks of antisemitism. Stephen Richer is Jewish.

So, is this what the Maricopa County Republican Committee intends to say to the public — come and join us, just so long as you’re not Jewish or Muslim or Hindu?

What of people like Republican Zuhdi Jasser, a conservative politician and cardiologist who is running for Congress?

He speaks eloquently about the virtues of his Muslim faith while challenging the extremists who would defile it.

Is there room for him in your party?

This is not Reagan's party, or even Trump's

Stephen Richer is a good man who believes in the first principles of conservatism and actually understands them. Do you tell him he’s not wanted because he is Jewish?

That’s what the Maricopa County Republicans are telling Jews.

Every day that Shelby Busch remains first vice chair of the county GOP, is another day the Maricopa County Republican Party is a refuge for bigots.

This is not Reagan’s Republican Party. It’s not exactly Trump’s.

Donald Trump is not an antisemite. His administration opened the doors for Israel to establish more harmonious relationships with Arab states through the Abraham Accords.

He has defended Israel more enthusiastically since Oct. 7 than Joe Biden, who is wavering in his support of our most important Middle East ally.

But Trump is absolutely guilty of draining seriousness from the conservative party. Donald Trump and his crude abasement of American politics made Shelby Busch.

No wonder Republicans continue to self-destruct

If she doesn’t like Stephen Richer, it’s because he’s the very thing she is not — a serious person.

Until Arizona Republicans start electing people of substance to office and party leadership, the party will continue to self-destruct.

Already the Shelby Busch and Kelli Ward Republicans have handed virtually every major statewide office to the Democrats.

Arizona isn't turning blue: Despite Democrats winning elections

Republicans are confident that 2024 is a GOP cycle and that Trump will win. But Republicans were confident two years ago they would see that vaunted “red wave.”

How did that work out?

Candidates with MAGA credentials in Arizona and across America lost. That’s how. Candidates with more conventional conservative bona fides won.

What happens to Shelby Busch says it all

But that’s just politics.

The larger question is a moral one.

Who are the Maricopa County Republicans?

Are they the party that gave us Lincoln and Eisenhower and Reagan?

Or are they squalid little bigots who violate American ideals?

What happens next to Shelby Busch will say it all.

Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com. 

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Republicans who would 'lynch' Stephen Richer are squalid bigots