Fox News' Juan Williams: 'GOP Extremism Poisoning Nation'

Fox News political analyst Juan Williams wrote on Monday that “extremism among Republicans is paralyzing Congress,” and “poisoning the nation,” in an opinion piece published by The Hill.

“More and more fights breaking out on airplanes. Why? The short answer is that wearing masks to protect against COVID-19 remains a politically divisive statement,” wrote Williams, who recently stepped down as co-host of Fox News’ “The Five,” but remains on the network as an analyst.

“Nine killed by gunfire in another mass shooting. Hateful attacks on Jews and Asians rising. All of that happened in the last week,” he continued, noting that “Americans should be coming together in celebration of declining coronavirus infections this Memorial Day,” but “Instead, the bursts of public violence and hate reflect deep political division.”

Williams then references a recent Fox News poll that shows 64% of American voters now “see political divisions as a major threat to the ‘stability’ of the nation,” making it the top threat to the nation in the eyes of voters. He also notes that more than half of Republicans said in a recent CBS/YouGov poll that Democrats are their “enemies,” and a recent Ipsos/Reuters survey found that most members of the GOP think that “former President Donald Trump is the ‘true president,’ and 56% believe the 2020 election was stolen from him.”

Williams asks, “How can so many Republicans still believe the ‘Big Lie,’ almost five months after President Biden was inaugurated following Congress certifying Biden’s national victory by 74 electoral college votes and more than seven million popular votes?”

He writes, “This extremism among Republicans is paralyzing Congress. It can’t find the votes to better regulate guns. It can’t fix a broken immigration system. Similarly, Republicans can’t compromise enough to reach a bipartisan deal to repair the nation’s decrepit infrastructure. Incredibly, Congress can’t even agree on a bill to protect the right to vote.

“Last week, Congress hit a new low. It blocked a commission to investigate the attempted overthrow of the U.S. government. Now that is dysfunction.”

Williams goes on to wonder, “What are the Republicans so afraid of?” and “Why did Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R- Ky., ask his caucus for a ‘personal favor,’ according to CNN, to vote to stop creation of the commission?”

He adds, “What Senate Republicans are really avoiding is the truth that Trump’s lies and slash-and-burn, truth-be-damned politics drove some of them to play along with him. They are implicated in the insurrection — not in a criminal sense, but in a moral sense.”