What do midterm races in Idaho tell us about the Republican Party?

What do midterm races in Idaho tell us about the Republican Party?

Transcript¹

One of the most intense battlegrounds between Republican moderates and extremists is in Idaho, where next month's primary is seen as a national test for how far to the right the GOP can be pulled.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

One of the most intense battlegrounds right now between moderates and extremists in the Republican Party is in Idaho. Primary elections next month in Idaho are seen as a national test for how far to the right the GOP can be pulled. NPR's Kirk Siegler reports on moderate Republicans who are organizing to fight against extremism.

KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE²: There was this moment when cattle rancher Jennifer Ellis decided⁴ she couldn't stand on the political sidelines anymore. It's when Ammon Bundy, who led an armed takeover of a federal wildlife refuge, moved to Idaho and began mounting his campaign for governor.

JENNIFER ELLIS: When you see him rising in the national consciousness as some kind of a cowboy rancher, that gets a little touchy⁵.

SIEGLER: Ellis says Bundy gave the actual working public lands ranchers who follow the law a bad name. For her, the saga⁶ was a buildup to today's right-wing politics of conspiracies⁷, trolling and just being mean and threatening.

ELLIS: It's dividing communities. They love the politics of fear.

SIEGLER: Ammon Bundy is now running as an independent, but Idaho's Lieutenant⁸ Governor Janice McGeachin, who's cozied up to white nationalists, is vying⁹ for the GOP nomination¹⁰. There are also at least two openly militia¹¹ candidates running for the legislature. Ellis, a lifelong Republican and former president of the Idaho Cattle Association, regrets not speaking out sooner.

ELLIS: People like me kind of got tired of listening to the conspiracy¹² stuff, and we just went home and went back to work. And so then the extremists were able to take control.

SIEGLER: So last fall, Ellis helped form the political action committee Take Back Idaho. She and several former Republican elected leaders have raised close to a hundred thousand dollars to try to unseat at least 16 far-right legislators. That'll be a tough job here, where the far-right attacks conservatives at times as RINOs, Republicans in name only.

ELLIS: There's nothing that Republican officeholders hate worse than being called a RINO or not Christian¹³ enough. And now we've got both of those operations going in this state.

SIEGLER: Lately, around her ranch³ on the windy high prairie, new subdivisions have cropped up with homes bought by newcomers calling themselves blue state refugees. Trump¹⁴ 2024 flags started popping up around here right after President Biden's nomination. And in most states, Idaho Governor Brad Little would be a hard-line conservative. He just signed a Texas-style abortion¹⁵ bill. But here, some local GOP leaders call him a liberal.

DOYLE BECK: We are a very conservative state with nothing but blue policies.

SIEGLER: Doyle Beck runs a construction company in nearby Idaho Falls. A state GOP delegate, he says conservatives have worked hard to steer¹⁶ the party agenda toward eliminating most government and taxes on business.

BECK: The status quo is the special interest groups and the cronies governing the state of Idaho. The Take Back Idaho's feeling like they're losing.

SIEGLER: At the University of Montana, political scientist Rob Saldin is tracking moderate groups like Take Back Idaho, which, so far, are rare.

ROB SALDIN: Where are the current high-profile Republicans who are endorsing¹⁷ and supporting this effort? I don't see many. And the ones you do, I mean, it's, like, Liz Cheney, who's in big trouble.

SIEGLER: In Montana, former Governor Mark Racicot has been writing editorials in The Washington Post lately, similar in tone to Take Back Idaho. Racicot chaired the Republican National Committee under George W. Bush. At his home near Missoula, he told me that the party's far-right leaders are a threat to democracy.

MARC RACICOT: There's really a huge, great middle of America that is concerned about us as a republic falling apart.

SIEGLER: Racicot was a popular two-term governor in the '90s. Now the party base attacks him as a RINO. He calls that angry, cheap rhetoric¹⁸.

RACICOT: Any time that you get fat and happy about what it is that you're doing that's not focused upon the best interest of your country first - not your party, your country first - you end up placing your form of government at risk.

SIEGLER: Racicot says many Republicans today are distracting with hate and division rather than dealing¹⁹ with tough issues head on.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAR DOOR SLAMMING)

SIEGLER: This was rancher Jennifer Ellis's take in Idaho, where lawmakers are going after librarians for exposing kids to, quote, "harmful books" and even debated whether Canadians were illegally coming over the border to vote in elections here. There's no evidence of that.

ELLIS: I just have to wonder where the grown-ups in the room are on some of these things when we have got infrastructure²⁰ that is really in peril²¹. We have got schools that have not been funded like they should.

SIEGLER: Today, Ellis is trying to raise money and fight extremism in the middle of calving season.

ELLIS: Actually, I'm surprised that they haven't done a little bit of bellering (ph).

SIEGLER: She's out in this pasture sometimes all day and night.

ELLIS: He was born this morning. This wind - they'll get really muddy.

SIEGLER: She says true Idaho conservatives are out here on the land working.

ELLIS: We're not conspiracy theorists in Idaho. That's how - never how we've ran this state. It's a meat-and-potatoes state. We do important things. We don't deal with juvenile²² things.

SIEGLER: Ellis is trying to pull the pendulum²³ back to the middle. The first test may be primary day, May 17.

Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Idaho Falls.

(SOUNDBITE OF AXEL KUHN TRIO'S "THE 3RD OF AUGUST")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 touchy   

adj.易怒的；棘手的

参考例句：

• Be careful what you say because he's touchy.你说话小心，因为他容易生气。
• He's a little touchy about his weight.他对自己的体重感到有点儿苦恼。

6 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

7 conspiracies   

n.阴谋，密谋( conspiracy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was still alive and hatching his conspiracies. 他还活着，策划着阴谋诡计。 来自辞典例句
• It appeared that they had engaged in fresh conspiracies from the very moment of their release. 看上去他们刚给释放，立刻开始新一轮的阴谋活动。 来自英汉文学

8 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

9 vying   

adj.竞争的；比赛的

参考例句：

• California is vying with other states to capture a piece of the growing communications market.为了在日渐扩大的通讯市场分得一杯羹，加利福尼亚正在和其他州展开竞争。
• Four rescue plans are vying to save the zoo.4个拯救动物园的方案正争得不可开交。

10 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

11 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

12 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

13 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

14 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

15 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

16 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

17 endorsing   

v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• Yet Communist leaders are also publicly endorsing religion in an unprecedented way. 不过，共产党领导层对宗教信仰的公开认可也是以前不曾有过的。 来自互联网
• Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain. 康涅狄格州独立派参议员约瑟夫。列波曼将会票选共和议员约翰。麦凯恩。 来自互联网

18 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

19 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

20 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

21 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

22 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

23 pendulum   

n.摆，钟摆

参考例句：

• The pendulum swung slowly to and fro.钟摆在慢慢地来回摆动。
• He accidentally found that the desk clock did not swing its pendulum.他无意中发现座钟不摇摆了。