Local Republican Schism?

Dear Group, There is something happening among folks who call themselves Republicans in Spokane County. A friend is on the emailing list for "Republicans of Spokane County." They have a short endorsement list I've reproduced below from their recent email. (Their website isn't quite so up-to-date.) In the email they wrote: "There are many other Republican candidates on the ballot. However, the above are the ones who asked and are endorsed by the Republicans of Spokane County Body." Susan Hutchinson for U.S. Senate Cathy McMorris Rodgers for Congress Dave Lucas for 3rd District State Representative Jenny Graham for 6th District State Representative Ozzie Knezovich for Spokane County Sheriff Larry Haskell for Spokane County Prosecutor Al French for Spokane County Commissioner Mary Kuney for Spokane County Commissioner Tim Fitzgerald for Spokane County Clerk Leonard Christian for Spokane County Assessor Richard Leland for Judge Jennifer Fassbender for Judge Patrick Johnson for Judge Shelley Szambelan for Judge The thing I find notable is not whom they endorsed, but whom they did NOT endorse. I have a theory, a suspicion. I don't see any of the Republican candidates I identify as the belligerent flapping far right fringe of the Party. Those folks include Matt "The Red Pill-State of Liberty" Shea and McCaslin Junior of District 4 (Spokane Valley plus), Jeff Holy, Mike Volz (of District 6), Rob Chase, Michael "the general election is going to be a door-to-door knife fight" Baumgartner, or any of the State District 7 incumbent reactionaries, Kretz, Short, or Maycumber. Even Ozzie Knezovich, hardly a progressive, is on record worrying about the direction of the local Republican Party influenced by white supremacists and conspiracy theorists. He has a running feud with Matt Shea. Is this a developing rift? Did the fringe not ask for endorsement from the Republicans of Spokane County out of disinterest or because they sensed they were unwelcome? What's going on? Are the confusingly named Republicans of Spokane County longing for the day when the Republican Party actually stood for at least a few principles worth admiring? Contrast the Republicans of Spokane County with the "Spokane County Republican Party." The latter note on their webpage they are the "Official Spokane County Republican Party." They've made some pretty unflattering news. First they said they wouldn't...and then they auctioned off an assault rifle at their Lincoln Day dinner fundraiser at which McMorris Rodgers spoke in June. You can read about that here. They invited that paragon of empathy, former Congressman and current FOX commentator, Jason "if-they-just-didn't-have-to-have-that-new-iPhone-they-could-afford-healthcare" Chaffetz to speak at the same gathering. (Read here.) Then Cecily Wright, their new chairwoman and purveyor of conspiracy theories with NW Grassroots, resigned over her laudatory hosting of the white supremacist, James Allsup. (Read here and here and here.) As for endorsements, the Spokane County Republican Party endorses every Republican candidate running for an office in any district that touches on Spokane County, no matter how far off on the flapping fringe. (Read Matt Shea and the Red Pill) (For some unknown reason they don't endorse candidates for judgeships. Certainly after Kavanaugh it is pointless for them to pretend they don't consider electing judges a partisan act.) McMorris Rodgers tries to keep a foot in both Republican camps. A product of the fringy Stevens County Republicans of which her father was once the chairman, she tries to clothe herself in the garb of a moderate Republican mom. Surely she would not want you to catch her giving an excited interview to a Breitbart reporter or attending a Republican event where an assault rifle is auctioned off to the faithful. McMorris Rodgers and many other Republicans this election season are desperately trying to survive, hoping to remain attractive to...and energize...the conspiracy theorists, the State of Liberty devotees, and their white supremacist base to vote for them while they pretend to adhere to the principles of a Republican Party that no longer exists. The GOP has become a dangerous cult of personality. From Tom Nichols in The Atlantic, October 7, "Why I'm Leaving the Republican Party:" Politics is about the exercise of power. But the new Trumpist GOP is not exercising power in the pursuit of anything resembling principles, and certainly not for conservative or Republican principles. Free trade? Republicans are suddenly in love with tariffs, and now sound like bad imitations of early-1980s protectionist Democrats. A robust foreign policy? Not only have Republicans abandoned their claim to being the national-security party, they have managed to convince the party faithful that Russia—an avowed enemy that directly attacked our political institutions—is less of a threat than their neighbors who might be voting for Democrats. Respect for law enforcement? The GOP is backing Trump in attacks on the FBI and the entire intelligence community as Special Counsel Robert Mueller closes in on the web of lies, financial arrangements, and Russian entanglements known collectively as the Trump campaign... The Republican Party, which controls all three branches of government and yet is addicted to whining about its own victimhood, is now the party of situational ethics and moral relativism in the name of winning at all costs. It is time to clean house of all of them. It is time to send a loud message to the demagogue-in-chief and his sycophants. I have some sympathy for Republicans edging away from the fringe of their Party, but they need a trouncing this November. Our nation depends on it. Keep to the high ground, Jerry