There is a simple way out of the Cameron-Massie-Deters fracas: Say the right thing. | Opinion
When U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie is the adult in the room, you know things have taken a turn for the weird.
The congressman whose idea of Christmas cheer is guns bigger than his children’s heads, looks like the elder statesmen of the Northern Kentucky Republican Party these days. Not that it’s hard, given the topic at hand is nephew-chaser and perennial GOP candidate Eric Deters, whose Freedom Fest event in September is supposed to feature various Trump spawn and other crazed hangers-on who get paid big bucks to spout about flat-earth politics such as Jan. 6, Covid, and yes, still the 2020 election.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who’s running for governor, was also supposed to attend, until Massie publicly pointed out that Deters’ own words about Black and LGBTQ folks were really a bad look for Kentucky’s first Black gubernatorial candidate. In his videos, Deters has questioned racial slurs, makes homophobic ones and said “Blacks want to control everything.”
“This plays into a trope about Republicans and I’m disgusted and discouraged that Republicans in Kentucky are going to show up to this event,” Massie told the Herald-Leader’s Austin Horn in a recent interview. This is not entirely altruistic, as Deters is allegedly mulling a run for Massie’s seat, and Massie has already endorsed Ron DeSantis for president. But it has the added virtue of being true.
Over the weekend, Cameron pulled out of Freedom Fest. Now I don’t know if he actually took Massie’s advice, or had the good sense to make the decision on his own. He will be at other events, his spokesman said. But it does show the complications for Republicans these days: How much Trump is too much Trump?
Cameron needs the extreme conservatives of the Freedom wing. He can’t disavow our indicted, document-keeping, sexually abusive former president because in Kentucky, Trump’s endorsement is his gold ticket. But boy, when the wingnut end of the Trump coalition, which is most of them, turns to talk of slurs and racism, what is a GOP candidate to do?
The answer could be simple. Cameron could become a statesman himself with one phrase, as Republican and LGBTQ activist Michael Frazier pointed out on Monday: “As a Republican and a Kentuckian, I condemn racism & homophobia.”
Sorry, Michael, Cameron has made it clear with his defense of SB 150 that homophobia is fine with him, but surely it wouldn’t put him out on too much of limb to condemn Eric Deters and his ilk for their overt racism. (When asked about his statements, Deters said Friday he stands by all of them.)
Yes, Deters finished fourth in the GOP gubernatorial primary, beating out respectable candidates like Alan Keck and Mike Harmon, and it’s easy to see that he has that same rakish yet toxic do-anything-say-anything appeal as Trump. But Cameron got such an overwhelming majority of the primary vote that it’s hard to see why he’d be too worried about the Deters wing.
The Republican Party of Kentucky, in the same bind as Cameron, declined to comment on the fracas. But Massie is right. This kind of thing hurts the whole party. It should not be controversial or backstabbing to disavow a Republican who makes racist and homophobic comments, especially one who tried to run his nephew over with a truck. Cameron is the putative head of the Kentucky GOP right now; he can take Massie’s advice without losing the entire Trump vote.
There are plenty of Republicans who agree that Trump fever has controlled too much of the narrative too much of the time. Of course, Cameron believes Trump is essential for a win, but there is a way to thread this needle with more integrity and principle than we’re seeing right now.
This story was originally published July 11, 2023 at 12:00 PM.
