Tom Kean Jr. should break his silence on GOP authoritarian extremism | Opinion

I have been most emphatic in my criticism of former state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. on his failure to repudiate Republican authoritarian extremism. Yet Kean, the leading Republican candidate in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, now has a unique opportunity to abandon his silence at minimal political cost.

This opportunity was created by Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the GOP House leader and a man with a well-deserved reputation of being an accommodationist of GOP neo-fascism. If Kean takes advantage of the opportunity provided by McCarthy and proceeds to unequivocally repudiate Republican authoritarian extremism, he will restore his moral standing as a GOP leader in the fight for democracy and against racism.

McCarthy’s long overdue act of repudiation of GOP extremism was his condemnation of the Feb. 26 America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) in Orlando. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul A. Gosar of Arizona, leading lights of the neo-fascist wing of the GOP, spoke to this gathering, organized by white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes.

Fuentes asked the crowd there to “give a round of applause for Russia” and responded, “Absolutely,” as attendees chanted, “Putin! Putin!”