MSNBC’s Elise Jordan called on Republicans to denounce Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s insurrection threats, even if they’re likely toothless.
The North Carolina Republican defended the jailed insurrectionists as “political hostages” and told constituents that he was “actively working on” bringing Donald Trump supporters to Washington for some type of action, and the “Morning Joe” contributor said GOP leadership should impose consequences.
“In an alternative universe, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, you would have had GOP leadership doing something to clamp down Madison Cawthorn from his violent fantasies, but today it gets him slots on cable news, juices his fundraising and he’s allowing to say and do whatever he wants, no matter how damaging,” Jordan said, “and if it’s inciting violence which we saw from the top, Donald Trump, and what he brought and how plenty of Republican leaders did nothing to clamp down on Donald Trump’s calls for repeated violence.”
Jordan, who served as an aide in the George W. Bush White House and as an adviser to Sen. Rand Paul’s presidential campaign, said she doesn’t think Cawthorn’s threats are serious, but she said they’re still way out of bounds.
“He doesn’t seem like the brightest bulb, seems like he’s going for the attention and isn’t a mastermind of planning an insurrection,” Jordan said. “But this is the rhetoric Republicans need to decry, and the fact that they aren’t and the fact that he’s seemingly operating in a consequence-free universe within the Republican Party, it’s very troubling and it shows the state of the Republican Party right now.”