the Miami Herald<\/a> reported. He is also suing FIU and its president, Jeanette Nu\u00f1ez, over the leaked group chat, seeking to block student misconduct charges that he said violated his First Amendment rights.<\/p>\nOn Monday, Cooper again made clear that antisemitism and racism have no place in the party: \u201cNot today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.\u201d That seems like it shouldn\u2019t have to be said, yet here we are.<\/p>\n
Cooper\u2019s response was more than damage control. It was a necessary line in the sand \u2014 a reminder that the Republican Party\u2019s strength has always come from building broad coalitions rooted in freedom and respect for the individual. And it\u2019s also the right thing to do: The chat was appalling and must be fully repudiated by the GOP and by FIU.<\/p>\n
The resignation and Cooper\u2019s words are steps in the right direction, but the finish line is still a long way off.<\/p>\n
Miami-Dade Republicans may have taken some actions to hold themselves accountable, but the state party must follow suit. That\u2019s what they\u2019re doing in California. Earlier this year, the California GOP issued a formal memo warning party leadership about a white nationalist movement attempting to infiltrate the party \u2014 not to win elections, but to take over the party infrastructure from within.<\/p>\n
The California GOP \u2014 like Cooper \u2014 didn\u2019t mince words. The memo named Nick Fuentes, an online influencer who has praised Hitler and called for Republicans to not vote in the 2026 midterms. The memo called on local county leadership to review its bylaws, vet candidates more rigorously and refuse to recruit or endorse anyone who aligns with this ideology.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what a zero tolerance policy looks like.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t about purity tests; it\u2019s about party survival. Extremists don\u2019t need to win elections to do damage \u2014 they only need to gain a foothold.<\/p>\n
The Republican Party of Florida must apply the same standard. It has a ticking time bomb on its hands with Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback, whose rhetoric is similar to the fringe impulses the party should be rejecting.<\/p>\n
Fishback has made headlines and headway with his rhetoric, but he should have no place in Republican political discourse or a race to be Florida\u2019s next governor. His candidacy isn\u2019t just controversial \u2014 it\u2019s a warning sign, one I\u2019ve seen the GOP ignore before.<\/p>\n
And the answer can\u2019t be silence. Silence is how we got here.<\/p>\n
For years, I\u2019ve watched Republican leaders \u2014 some of whom I\u2019ve worked alongside \u2014 wring their hands in private while publicly looking the other way. Every time the GOP refused to draw a clear line, more damage was done. And now we\u2019re faced with leaked messages from current and future party leaders that would make the Gipper weep.<\/p>\n
The Republican Party I grew up in was about dignity of the individual, the promise that hard work leads to success and the belief that America\u2019s diversity is a feature, not a bug. The GOP can\u2019t champion individual liberty while allowing members to dehumanize their neighbors. Those two things are incompatible \u2014 morally and politically.<\/p>\n
Miami-Dade Republicans took an important first step. California Republicans offered a roadmap. Now, the Florida GOP must decide whether it is willing to act.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200bThat means calling out extremism without hesitation, including in a gubernatorial primary.<\/p>\n
The GOP is worth fighting for. But reclaiming it will require more than statements. It requires leaders willing to confront bad actors, reject conspiracy-driven rhetoric and restore the principles that once defined the party.<\/p>\n
The path forward is clear. The question is whether the Republican Party of Florida has the courage to follow it.<\/p>\n
Mary Anna Mancuso is a member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. Her email: mmancuso@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Miami-Dade Republican Party chair, Kevin Cooper, with President Donald Trump. I never set out to be a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[93463,123,125,124,34155,93464,32373],"class_list":["post-203138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-antisemitism-response","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-miami-dade-gop","tag-party-accountability","tag-republican-party-of-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}