Murphy calls MAGA ‘hateful’ wing of GOP

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday said the MAGA wing of the Republican Party headed by former President Trump was “hateful and divisive.”

Murphy told “Fox News Sunday” host Bret Baier that the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot coupled with the false claims the election was stolen from Trump were examples of his perception of a growing sense of extremism in the GOP ranks.

“I am very concerned about the very quick, hateful, divisive turn that the Republican Party has taken,” the Democratic senator said. “It’s something I have not seen from the Republican Party.”

Murphy’s comments echo those of President Biden, who last week called the MAGA wing of the GOP “the most extreme political organization that’s existed in American history,” drawing rebuke from Republicans and conservatives for labeling a group of people as radical or extreme.

The senator said that faction of the Republican Party was “mean-spirited,” arguing they were targeting children under measures like Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay law, which prevents public schools from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade.

“They seem to be targeting vulnerable kids in a way that didn’t exist ten or twenty years ago,” he said. “I do think it’s important to talk about this very different element of the Republican Party, which I don’t think was the foundation of the party a couple decades ago.”

Updated at 11:39 a.m.