State-level Republican parties are soaked in Kool-AId

 I just don't think the advice that one should put one's political focus on realms of political activity closer to home, because that's where one can have more of an impact, is worth a whole lot these days.

Censure mania has broken out at the state level against those Republican Senators who understood that Donald Trump whipped his cult following into a frenzy for two months based on lies, that he sat on his hands when those inside the Capitol on January 6 implored him to call out the National Guard, and that he proved once and for all that he didn't give a flying you-know-what about his lapdog Vice President, tweeting about said lapdog's "lack of courage" while said lapdog's life was in mortal danger.

Bill Cassidy has come in for it in Louisiana:

The Louisiana Republican Party on Saturday censured Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) for voting to convict former President Donald Trump of incitement during the close of Trump’s second impeachment trial earlier in the day.

The state party’s executive committee voted unanimously to censure Cassidy, who won reelection in November, hours after the Senate voted to acquit Trump. Though a majority of senators (57) voted to convict the former president, conviction required a two-thirds majority.

“We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the vote today by Sen. Cassidy to convict former President Trump,” the Louisiana GOP said in a statement on Facebook. “Fortunately, clearer heads prevailed and President Trump has been acquitted of the impeachment charge filed against him.”

 Richard Burr in North Carolina looks set to get the same treatment this evening:

According to party spokesman Tim Wigginton, it’s likely that the vote will pass amid the anger brewing within the GOP over the senator’s vote to convict. State party chairman Michael Whatley called Burr’s decision “shocking and disappointing.”

Kyshia Lineberger, the RNC committeewoman from North Carolina, is also among Burr’s critics.

The petition in Utah to censure Mitt Romney includes a phrase so central in Trumpist rhetoric but so hackneyed as to elicit eye rolls among anyone not hopelessly ate up. I have put it in boldface:

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that within 24 hours of the latest vote, a petition to censure Romney started making the rounds in some Utah Republican social media circles.

"A tipster sent along a link to the proposed censure of Romney", it adds.

The action claims he "misrepresented himself as a Republican".

The politician is also accused of "prioritizing his personal and political vendetta against President Donald J. Trump ahead of the Constitution of the United States... and the advancement of the Republican Platform."

The censure slams Romney for "embarrassing the state of Utah" by being the sole Republican to vote to convict Trump during his first impeachment trial.

"Senator Williard Mitt Romney appears to be an agent for the Establishment Deep State", the censure adds.

Here in Indiana, no censures are forthcoming since both Senators voted to acquit. But be assured that the state-level party here is saturated in Kool-Aid as well. Here's a tweeted image from our secretary of state Todd Rokita:

I cannot articulate the significance of these moves any better than Washington Examiner contributor Quin Hilyer has: 

Quin Hillyer

@QuinHillyer

This must be said: ANY state party organization that "censures" any member of Congress for a vote of conscience to impeach/convict a president who maliciously and recklessly put his own Veep's life in danger... is a state party full of moral rot and a totalitarianism of thought.

Taking that final step and saying the GOP is so hopelessly infected that conservatives must abandon it and do their work outside its structure is something I'm not ready to do yet. Maybe in a couple of minutes. 

The indispensable Adam Kinzinger's PAC is predicated on working to see that conservatism prevails over Trumpism within the party. 

Michael Barone of the American Enterprise Institute, generally regarded as one of the true sages of political analysis thinks it will continue to be the only viable repository of right-of-center activity in the country. So does National Review editor Rich Lowry. These people don't commit their bylines to assessments they have not thought out with great care.

But Quin is likewise a responsible pundit, and I think he has the more compelling case. The infection is so pervasive it seems best to let the patient die.