The Republican Party has long claimed to be the party of “law and order”.  I have a little problem with that claim, given their behaviour and rhetoric of late.  Let’s take a look at just a few of the reasons I think it is a joke that they still attempt to lay claim to that title.

• The biggest threat to law and order today is posed by people toting guns, by guns in the hands of people who should never be within a mile of a firearm. And yet, Republicans steadfastly refuse to legislate any form of gun regulations.  They refuse to even talk about a ban on military-style assault weapons that can mow down 30-40 people within a minute.  They refuse to put common sense gun laws into effect that would ensure expanded background checks, keep guns out of the hands of domestic violence abusers, make licensing and testing mandatory requirements, and more.  Most crimes … apart from white collar crimes … are committed with guns!  Doesn’t it make sense to regulate and limit them?  Apparently not to the party of ‘law and order’!
• The unofficial ‘head’ of the Republican Party today is the former president Donald Trump who himself has a long history of breaking the law in the areas of tax evasion, civil rights violations, refusing to pay contractors for work done, employment violations, and more. And yet, the Republican Party bows to his will, supports him wholeheartedly, and plans to escort him back into the Oval Office in 2025.  And most recently, Republicans are outraged that the FBI executed a lawful search warrant in order to retrieve highly classified documents that Trump literally stole from the White House, stole from We the People.  How is that “tough on crime”?
• After the January 6^th insurrection/attempted coup which was extremely violent and resulted in multiple deaths and more than 100 injuries to the very law enforcement officers the Republicans supposedly support, the Party whitewashed the events of that day, even though the extreme violence had been recorded by many on video. Republican members of Congress referred to it as a “normal tourist visit”, and said the rioters were simply exercising their right to free speech.  Last February, the Republican Party officially passed a resolution declaring that the events of that day were “Legitimate Political Discourse”.  They refer to the rioters who have been charged as “political prisoners”.  Even the two minority leaders in Congress, Senator Mitch McConnell and Representative Kevin McCarthy, who spoke strongly against Trump and his role in the attempted coup initially, have now turned 180°, supporting Trump and echoing the ‘party line’.
• Some in the party are calling for defunding or even abolishing the FBI, primarily because of the search of Trump’s home to retrieve the aforementioned documents. Others have called for abolishing all federal law agencies!
• Certain Republican legislators have not-too-obscurely incited violence among the masses, with Lindsey Graham saying there would be “riots in the streets if Trump is prosecuted” and Trump himself saying that “Mitch McConnell has a death wish” for Mitch’s participation in an agreement to fund the government through December. Seems to me that the party of law and order would NOT be inciting … law-breaking and disorder!!!

So no, my friends, the Republican Party can no longer lay claim to being the “Law and Order Party” … in fact, they are so far from it that it would be a joke, except there is nothing funny about it.  Their claim to be “tough on crime” is convoluted and selective.  For example, an unarmed Black man having inadvertently attempted to pay for groceries with a counterfeit bill can be brutally murdered by white police officers and that is ‘law and order’ by the Republican’s definition.  But one of their own can do far worse … can incite a riot where lives are lost, and that’s naught more than ‘legitimate civil discourse’ and nobody should pay the price.

I’ve seen hypocrisy throughout my entire life, from small instances to large ones, but I have NEVER seen hypocrisy to the extent the Republican Party of the 21^st century practices it.  The examples above are but a few of the many I could come up with, but they are the most glaring.  They don’t even bother to try to hide their hypocrisy any longer … it’s right out there for everyone to see.  Make no mistake … the are the party of Wealth and of Bigotry, but they are NOT the party of law and order!