North Idaho: an unlikely fight against GOP extremism; renegade Republicans are seeking to root it out in crucial primary today

essentialsaltes said:

In a place with a history of hate, an unlikely fight against GOP extremism (gift link)​

North Idaho has beaten the far right before. Now renegade Republicans are seeking to root it out of their own party, with a crucial test in Tuesday’s primary.

For much of the two decades since [an Aryan Nations compound was bankrupted and destroyed], civic leaders have focused on moving beyond the image of North Idaho as a white-power fiefdom.

This time, activists say, the threat is no longer on the fringes of society, dressed in Nazi garb at a hideout in the woods. Instead, they see it in theleadership of the local Republican Party, which has mirrored the lurch to the right of the national conservative movement during the Trump era on matters of race, religion and sexuality. The bigotry of the past, they say, now has mainstream political cover.

In this ruby-red state, the pushback is being led from within the party. A group of disaffected, self-described “traditional” Republicans has spent the past two years planning to wrest back control from leaders who they accuse of steering the local GOP toward extremism, a charge the officials vehemently deny. A crucial measure of the challengers’ efforts comes Tuesday, Idaho’s primary day.

The rebels have focused their efforts on precinct committee seats, the building blocks of local party power. On Tuesday, they need to win 37 seats out of 73 to force a change in local party leadership, but they’re hoping for a rout.

“I want a full sweep,” said Christa Hazel, 50, a Republican organizer who has been doxed and harassed since resigning from the party’s central committee in 2017 over concerns about extremism and a lack of transparency. “I want a full referendum on the ugliness, chaos and division.”

Hazel and her allies blame local leaders for ideological fights that have left North Idaho College on the brink of losing its accreditation. Doctors, especially reproductive health specialists, are leaving the area, with one local hospital recently shuttering its maternity ward. Extremism researchers and local media outlets have documented the ties between GOP officials and far-right figures.

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Other background:

Pregnant with no OB-GYNs around: In Idaho, maternity care became a casualty of its abortion ban​

Two far-right school board members recalled in far-right Idaho County​

MAGA-style GOP trustees take over North Idaho College Board; results in 5 presidents in one year, credit rating drop, and maybe loss of accreditation​

‘The beginning of the collapse of an entire system’​

Back in Idaho, Miller says five of the nine remaining full-time maternal-fetal medicine physicians in the state will have left by the end of this year.

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Zaha Torte said:

What is the supposed extremism?

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Fantine said:

Read the article I posted on Coeur d'Alene above.

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Zaha Torte said:

I should have been more clear - what is the supposed "GOP extremism"?

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DaisyDay said:

Read the OP.

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iluvatar5150 said:

I wonder how long it'll be before the far right drives some of these places so far into the ground that they become ghost towns.

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essentialsaltes said:

UPDATE on Kootenai GOP town hall chaos: Woman who was dragged out speaks, police chief condemns security, name of security firm confirmed​

COEUR d’ALENE — A legislative town hall organized by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee devolved into chaos Saturday when unidentified, plainclothes security personnel dragged a Post Falls woman from the Coeur d’Alene High School auditorium for heckling legislators.

Borrenpohl said she didn’t recognize Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris at first when he approached her in the semidarkness of the auditorium because he was dressed in jeans and a baseball cap.

Borrenpohl said that after she declined to leave, Norris turned to the unidentified men and said, “Guys, get her.”

On video, Borrenpohl can be seen repeatedly asking the men to identify themselves. They did not. She asked Norris if the men were his deputies, and he gave no answer.

“Bob (Norris) was right there,” KCRCC chair Brent Regan said. “Nothing was done without him being aware.”

Norris denied knowledge of the event’s security arrangements and said he didn’t know the security personnel.

[Police Chief] White said it’s not appropriate for law enforcement to forcefully remove a person from a town hall for speaking out of turn or shouting.

White said his officers declined the sheriff’s request that Borrenpohl be arrested for trespassing.

“We respectfully informed the sheriff that, since this was an open to the public event, we are not going to arrest anyone for trespassing,” White said. “That would be inappropriate.”

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Fantine said:

I saw this documentary about a year ago. The Great American Redoubt

Perhaps this will give you a clearer picture of the city which has become a haven for extremists, militia groups, white Supremacists and more, but we all start with a different center in our bell curve.

While this is a town I would take a detour to avoid on a road trip, you might find them less frightening.

Inside the American Redoubt

An idyllic corner of the United States, specifically the city of Coeur d'Alene in North Idaho, is now ground zero for a socio-cultural and political...

topdocumentaryfilms.com

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okay said:

I grew up in Eastern Washington and had a friend living in Coeur d'Alene in the mid-1980s. I recall receiving a long letter she wrote because she was trapped in her house - the white supremacists were marching in town again... It apparently was not an unusual event. That would be one of the last places I would want to live.

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