USA Today op-ed: Ousting of Liz Cheney proves GOP is a 'bigger threat than 9/11 hijackers'

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New York reporters slamming Gov. Cuomo over his comments about sexual harassment and more round out today's top media headlines.

A piece published in USA Today sounded the alarm on Republicans being a "bigger threat" than Islamic extremists following the leadership removal of Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. 

Deputy editorial page editor David Mastio began by pointing to remarks made on MSNBC by former Lincoln Project adviser Kurt Bardella, who suggested that the Republican Party is "worse" than "Al Qaeda, Usama bin Laden [and] the Taliban" combined as GOP lawmakers began their push to oust Cheney as the conference chair. And while Mastio was "inclined to agree" with the backlash Bardella received, he insisted that "the events of Jan. 6 are different."

MSNBC GUEST SUGGESTS GOP IS BIGGER THREAT TO US THAN 'AL QAEDA, USAMA BIN LADEN, THE TALIBAN' COMBINED

"it is pretty clear that the violence was politically targeted. In other words, terrorism," Mastio wrote on Thursday. "This [election] lie is like throwing gasoline on a fire. It guarantees further violence. The American people are unique. We do not passively accept our fate at the hands of tyrants. If our democracy is being stolen, we will rise up in arms. If I thought our democracy was being stolen, I’d have joined in support of the broader Jan. 6 protests, if not the violence."

The USA Today editor said that Cheney's ousting should "alarm all fact-based Americans who believe in our country" and that since polls show that a majority of Republicans believe that the 2020 election was stolen "is a sure sign that more violence is to come."

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"After 9/11, the leaders, financiers and backers of the terrorists had had their one shot at tearing America down. Their only hope was to hide in caves and pray we wouldn’t find them. After Jan. 6, the leaders, financiers and backers of the insurrection feel no such fear," Mastio said. "As surely as the terrorists of 9/11 wanted to tear down American democracy in 2001, the terrorists of Jan. 6 want to tear down our democracy as well, even as they pose as its defenders. And unlike the Sept. 11 attackers, they are going to get another chance."

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He continued, "Yes, 9/11 cost many more lives than Jan. 6 has so far, but comparing the two attacks is reasonable because the Big Lie is more dangerous to our way of life than the 2001 terrorists’ medieval ideology ever was."