523 miles from the US Capitol, a Republican meeting in Charleston ends in a reckoning
David Savage sat in the back corner of the dining room at the North Charleston Marriott, waiting to stare into the soul of the Charleston County Republican Party.
A trial attorney, Savage had brought notes with him Monday night and printed out evidence to share with his political peers. But before he could talk, a woman rose and addressed the room of GOP faithful.
“I am angry. I am mad. And I am very discouraged about this stolen election, and especially about these Republican politicians that did not stand for us — did not stand for our Republican president who had helped get a lot of them elected,” the James Island woman said, her voice rising with fury as her disbelief gave way to defiance.
At that moment, still holding his notes in his hands, Savage admitted he almost didn’t go through with it. Before Donald Trump, Savage had proudly called himself a Republican. Now, there’s a caveat.
“I’m a reluctant Republican,” Savage said Tuesday.
So when it was his turn to address more than 75 Republicans in that hotel dining room, Savage urged them to consider two facts.
Four years ago, he began, Republicans controlled the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and the White House. Now, after four years of a Trump presidency, the GOP had lost them all.
Savage paced the room, making eye contact with the mostly mask-less attendees.
“The second undeniable fact is that on Jan. 6, the president incited an insurrection,” Savage said.
Then came the reckoning.
For the next 30 minutes, at the end of what would become a 2-hour meeting, the fracturing of the Republican Party in America was on full display inside a small dining room in North Charleston.
Factions of GOP loyalists here disputed whether they, too, should abandon Trump after he had urged his supporters last Wednesday “to fight.” Others saw no connection between the Republican Party, the president and the attack on the Capitol.
Less than 10 miles away from where the Civil War began, people in the room shook their heads, incredulous at what they were hearing. They murmured “no” to themselves before erupting as one.
Savage, still pacing the room, was drowned out by a bellow of boos and shouts. One man yelled, “You’re wrong! You’re wrong!” Another yelled, “Lock him up!”
And when Savage said a member of the local GOP’s executive committee was involved in a local militia group, a woman banged her fist on a table shouting, “Good on ya! Good on ya! Yeah! Militia! Militia! Liberty or death! Way to go!”
Some who attended the meeting virtually on Zoom demanded to know who was speaking. Another person in the room questioned if Savage was a dues-paying member.
Charleston County Republican Party Chair Maurice Washington banged a gavel, trying to restore order without much success.
Savage had intended to introduce two resolutions on Monday night. The first called for the local party to express condolences to the family of U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died one day after he was overpowered and beaten by rioters who stormed the Capitol.
The second resolution asked the Charleston County Republican Party to state, without qualification, that it is not a political party of any individual but rather is a political party faithful only to its creed and party platform.
Savage wouldn’t get the chance to formally introduce the resolutions, though. He was interrupted, repeatedly.
Latrecia Pond, who traveled to Washington for the Jan. 6 protest, repeated unfounded claims that it was far-left antifa members — not Trump supporters — who breached the U.S. Capitol that day. (The FBI has said there is no evidence that antifa had a role in the mob that stormed the Capitol, and numerous identifiable right-wing radicals have been arrested for their role in the siege.)
Another woman shouted, “We don’t owe an apology because we didn’t do it!”
Then, Philip Fairchild raised his hand and asked to speak. For years, he said, he’s been coming to these meetings and signing in, almost always standing or sitting in the back of the room.
“I have two sons, 22 and 26, and what I saw on Jan. 6 was embarrassing,” he said, to scattered applause. “It’s hard for me to tell my sons that I, as a Republican, and wanting (them) to be a Republican, stand for that. Nikki Haley said we are the party of personal responsibility. Did y’all see that? Isn’t that true? Aren’t we the party of personal responsibility? Then we need to take it.”
He continued, “What happened on Jan. 6 was a travesty, an embarrassment. We can’t allow people to run over our Congress like that and destroy the people’s house.”
Fairchild said he had come to the meeting Monday night wondering if his local GOP would be willing to condemn what happened last Wednesday.
“Why aren’t we standing up and saying something? Just because we’re in an echo chamber in here doesn’t mean we’re right just because we want it to be right,” he said.
After the meeting, Washington told The State newspaper that the Charleston GOP is “disgusted” by what happened at the U.S. Capitol.
“It’s bad for Democracy and it’s not the way Republicans behave. It was sickening to watch. By no way do we support behavior that compromises America’s democracy,” Washington said.
But during the meeting, most of the Charleston County GOP members who spoke did not verbalize that sentiment.
One woman said she did not understand why the nation was in “an uproar” about what happened on Jan. 6, a deadly incident that killed five people, including a Capitol police officer. Instead, she described the event as something that “may or may not have terrified the poor little politicians.”
In an interview the morning after the meeting, Savage said he was not surprised by what happened on Monday night, but he was disheartened.
“I’m dismayed that so many people are divorced from reality,” Savage said.
Savage said he had received some supportive emails from others who attended the local Republican Party meeting, but he’s concerned about what the future holds for the GOP after Trump leaves office and whether Trump’s Republican Party is here to stay.
“Blind obedience to Donald Trump is not the litmus test for being a Republican,” Savage said.
But as he reflected on that statement, Savage came to another realization. “Unfortunately, that view is probably not shared by many,” Savage said, recognizing that he may now be the minority in his own party.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 2:20 PM.
