An ESPN host and his guest have attracted scrutiny this week for suggesting that there may be similarities between the Tea Party and the Islamic State, a murderous extremist group that continues to terrorize large swaths of the Middle East.
The moment occurred last Friday as ESPN 980’s Tony Kornheiser hosted Huffington Post editor Howard Fineman to discuss Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the Tea Party movement and the race to replace outgoing House Speaker Rep. John Boehner of Ohio.
Ryan announced recently that he’d make a run for speaker, but is opposed by many in the House Freedom Caucus, which is aligned closely with national Tea Party groups. For the Wisconsin Republican to be an effective speaker, he’ll need to be ruthless with his Tea Party opposition, Fineman contested.
“[T]here are about 40 of those guys and gals who are Tea Party people, who hate the leadership who hate the idea of the leadership, who are hard-core conservatives, who want to shut down the government,” Fineman said. “[S]hutting down the government is like their favorite thing to do.”
Therefore, he added, Ryan should prepare for a bloody fight to defang all insurgent Tea Party opposition.
“[H]e’s going to be spending all his time trying to deal with these Tea Party people. What he’s probably going to have to do, if in fact he gets in, is stage some kind of fight with them and defeat them, or take away their power, and go after them. I don’t know if he’s got the guts to do that. I don’t know if he’s got the numbers to do it,” Fineman added.
At this point, Kornheiser chimed in, “Are they like ISIS trying to establish a Caliphate here?”
Fineman responded, “Yes! Yes! That’s a very good analogy! Without the violence obviously, but yes, they are a rejectionist front.”
