Republican Josh McKoon has enjoyed little success as a Georgia politician. He served in the State Senate for a time, but was soundly defeated when he ran for Georgia Secretary of State. However, you don’t have to win elections to be made the state party chairman, and he has settled into that, gaining the seat with MAGA credentials.
Today McKoon took steps to reduce the dwindling ranks of Republicans by at least one more. He sent an open letter to fellow Republican, and former Georgia Lieutenant Governor, Geoff Duncan. In the letter McKoon made clear his intention to purge Duncan from the party. You can read McKoon’s hateful little MAGA diatribe HERE.
McKoon starts with the usual MAGA go to strategy of personal attacks unrelated to any issue. He mocks Duncan for dropping out of college and “failing as a minor league baseball player.” Describing Duncan as a failure for supposedly dropping out of college is a bit of spin. Duncan left college because he was drafted in the 69th round of the Major League Baseball draft. He was a professional baseball player for four years as a relief pitcher, reaching Triple-A status (the highest minor league), before a shoulder injury ended his career.
McKoon then accuses Duncan of failing as Lieutenant Governor, though Duncan cites no specifics there, referring only to unstated “lapses and failings.” This likely includes Duncan’s joint statement with Governor Brian Kemp describing a joint session of the Georgia legislature to name its own slate of 2020 electors as unconstitutional.
Which gets to McKoon’s real objection. Duncan rejects Trump and Trumpism. Duncan endorsed Biden, and when Biden withdrew he endorsed Harris. Duncan believes that Donald Trump, and his movement, are toxic and damaging to the Republican Party.
McKoon makes clear there is no room for such principled thinking in today’s Republican Party. Free speech and free thinking be damned, McKoon will not tolerate this in his Georgia Republican Party. McKoon accuses Duncan of repeatedly violating loyalty oaths that McKoon alleges Duncan took when he “qualified as a Republican candidate for office.” If such Third Reich-ish loyalty oaths exist, that should be a scandal in itself.
McKoon’s proposed banishment of Duncan from the Georgia Republican Party is not merely ceremonial. McKoon would have:
1. The State Executive Committee ban Duncan permanently from qualifying as a Republican for any elected office in Georgia. There’s no chance even for redemption.
2. The Republican National Committee will be asked to ban Duncan from qualifying as a Republican for any office in any state.
3. A notice would be posted on the Georgia Republican website that any commentary from Duncan is that of an expelled former member. A sort of virtual Scarlet Letter.
4. Duncan will be treated as a trespasser if he merely shows up at any event or meeting associated with the Georgia Republican Party. This would apply to every county in the state. Yes, they are actually threatening him with arrest if he shows up at public events. At such events any member of the public might be allowed in, except Duncan. For him, the Georgia Republican Party would demand he be treated as a criminal and the police arrest and charge him. This is simply the Georgia Republican Party criminalizing political thought.
Sounds pretty “weird” huh? One might even say it sounds fascist.
Perhaps the best response to McKoon’s efforts to purge Duncan is from Duncan. You can read that response HERE. Duncan makes clear that it is Trump who should be ostracized from the party, for his many failures and his “ceaseless attacks” on conservatives, to include Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. He also blames Trump for the Republican Party’s election failures that included the 2020 Presidential election and two Democrats elected from Georgia to the United States Senate for the first time in history. “So much for all that winning” says Duncan. Duncan predicts that Trump will lose again and states that:
“I will sleep soundly every night comfortable with not only my conservative credentials but also the knowledge that I don’t wake up every day hoping I won’t have to defend the indefensible conduct of a morally bankrupt man who couldn’t pick you out of a police lineup, even if he tried.”
He then urged McKoon to read his book, GOP 2.0: How the 2020 Election Can Lead to a Better Way Forward for America’s Conservative Party. Duncan’s Amazon bio for that book states:
“Geoff believes the Republican’s Party’s future lies in building larger coalitions by pursuing common-sense conservative Policies; showing real Empathy; and employing a better Tone. His bold and positive message has made him a national leader and voice for a reinvigorated party — a GOP 2.0 — that can reclaim the House, Senate, and White House.”
You can’t have that kind of thinking in today’s Republican Party.
