Let's cancel the phony `cancel culture' fight

Incessant Republican complaints about “cancel culture” might have more credibility if the Republicans didn't engage in so much canceling of their own.

The Grand Old Party's alarm over “cancel culture,” the hottest buzzword of its sort since “political correctness,” has hardly been subtle.

“The cancel culture doesn't just go after conservatives and Republicans. It won't just stop there. It'll come for us all. That's what's frightening,” Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, said in a ferocious defense of thenPresident Donald Trump during the latest impeachment debate.

“Cancel culture,” in case you're wondering, is very much like the earlier, easily abused catchphrase “political correctness.” Nurtured by social media, it originally referred to the withdrawal of support from public figures or companies for something considered objectionable or offensive enough to be worthy of group shaming.

As a scourge, the term proved too tempting for Trump's legal team to pass over during his impeachment trial. Trump attorney Michael van der Veen labeled the trial “a shameful effort as a deliberate attempt by the Democrat Party to smear, censor and cancel, not just President Trump, but the 75 million Americans who voted for him.” Never mind the 80 million or so who voted against him.

Now, for some dissenters, like Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the canceling is coming in even from members of his own family. As one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, the Illinois Air National Guard lieutenant colonel from Channahon has been rebuked by county GOP parties across the state — and by some of his own family.

That's sad, but not too surprising, considering how deeply countless other households have been divided in these polarized times between mainstream Republicans and Trump loyalists.

“Cancel culture” is far less urgent than the “No. 1 issue for the country to address,” as Jordan called it in a Fox News interview. I'd rank it farther down, way below the older but still persistent challenge of getting straight talk and accountability from our public officials, regardless of their party. We need it.