Hawaii Republican: My caucus feels 'like a cult'

A Republican State Representative from Hawaii is publicly distancing herself from other members of her caucus on the grounds that they seem more like a cult.

In an interview with Honolulu Civil Beat, Hawaii State Rep. Kanani Souza said that, even though she is personally a devout Catholic, she has been disturbed at how much her Republican colleagues lean on personal religious views instead of the law when it comes to making political choices.

"It’s just a lot of things where you can’t really say what you want to say because they’re not willing to have an educated discussion,” she told the publication. “It’s non-stop trying to use religion to try to get everybody to be quiet — or me, in particular.”

When she has raised objections to ideas raised within the conference, Souza says that she has been told she needs to "go to church" and "pray about this."

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Souza now says that she meets with the caucus as little as possible and that she interacts with them almost exclusively through mail or text.

“It was just to the point where it was really affecting me personally, being part of this group of people, and it felt very cult-like, I’m going to be honest, it felt like a cult," she said.