The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Cheney says GOP has ‘enabled’ racism. Here’s what she’s talking about.

The right spread the racist ‘great replacement theory’ even after a series of tragedies in which the shooter espoused it.

Analysis by
Staff writer
Updated May 16, 2022 at 2:09 p.m. EDT|Published May 16, 2022 at 1:59 p.m. EDT
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif)., Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) speak to reporters outside U.S. Border Patrol Eagle Pass South Station in Texas last month. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
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After a mass shooting apparently driven by racism in Buffalo this weekend, a former member of House GOP leadership didn’t mince words.

“The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) tweeted Monday morning. “History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse. @GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them.”