I was going through my YT feed, and I came across this long video about the Tucker/Stewart beef. It is over an hour, but I think it really puts John Stewart Leibowitz into proper context.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlIynbYUA1Q
I had never seen those Crossfire clips before, so watching Leibowitz lecture Tucker on his moral failings was all new. I don't know how Tucker put up with his moralizing ass, I would have tossed him out almost instantly. I couldn't stand Colbert or Leibowitz back then because of how blatantly one sided and disingenuous they were, but I can see what Leibowitz is doing a lot more clearly now. It isn't about politics, it is about moral lecturing, and he cloaks it in comedy.
He was (mostly) right in the Crossfire interview. A phony divide between Democrats and Republicans helps only Democrats and Republicans. That said, he was also a hypocrite, because while he criticized Tucker and that other guy for this, he does it himself - and then he hides behind "I'm just a comedian".
This was said in 2003 or 2004, when Republicans were blindly following George W. Bush. Bush and Kerry were separated at birth. It's like Biden running against Nikki Haley, and when that happens, the media will manufacture another phony 'divide'.
Even now, the vast majority of Republicans are absolute trash, so yeah, the 'divide' is phony. If anything, it serves to lull you into complacency by imagining that there is a ruling party and an opposition party with about equal strength, rather than a ruling uniparty with token opposition from something like 5% of Republicans.
Who said "why can't we all just get along"?
The Republican Party also has people like Eyepatch McCain and Nikki Haley. By pretending that it's GOP vs. Democrat, you enable them.
How on earth did you get "Matt Gaetz is the same as Nikki Haley" from that?
I was pointing out that you can't make this about "Republican vs. Democrat" and that phony divide, because as you correctly point out, the divide runs in the middle of the GOP.
By pretending that it's GOP vs. Democrats, you're not doing anyone any favors except the RINOs and the regime.