Let's not forget that the GOP just had it's worst week since the assassination of Abe Lincoln.
Feckless, spineless, unprincipled, incompetent, idolatrous, and pathetic Republicans don't just damage their own reputations, they harm real people everywhere
According to plentiful punditry, this week was full of bad political news for everyone. I largely stayed away from social media and finished a long novel (Seveneves by Neal Stephenson) in part to give me time to digest the news. Turns out, the pundits were wrong. This was not a bad week for everyone. It was simply an exceptionally bad week for Republicans. (And that has real consequences for people everywhere.)
Let’s start with the Special Counsel Robert Hur’s long-awaited report on Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents. Mr. Biden, the report says, should not be prosecuted for his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. The report begins with this sentence: “We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter.” Later, after laying out what evidence there is, the report says, “In addition to this shortage of evidence, there are other innocent explanations for the documents that we cannot refute.” In between those two findings, Special Counsel Hur speculates that if the government did charge the President, his defense would be that Joe is old and impaired. Mr. Hur did his job. He looked at the evidence and found that, unlike in Mr. Trump’s case, it did not warrant further action by the Department of Justice. But Mr. Hur, a Trump appointee associated with the Federalist Society, couldn’t help himself from trying to put his thumb on the scale as he went out the door. Read in its entirety, the report says Joe is innocent and the GOP can’t stand it.
Predictably, Republicans are slamming the Justice Department, saying the report proves the government is treating Donald Trump unfairly. They are also salivating over the gratuitous comments about President Biden’s age and memory. Sort of like saying the election for president was rigged but the Senate election on the same ballot was just fine. Bottom line: Trump is indicted and on trial for his handling of national secrets. Joe Biden is not. GOP partisans are again unmasked as the ones who are eager to weaponize government whenever they can.
SCOTUS wrestles with insurrection and loses
Over at the Supreme Court, most observers now expect the Court to overturn Colorado’s decision to exclude Mr. Trump from the ballot on the grounds that he swore an oath to protect the country then incited an insurrection. The aha moment in the oral argument seems to have come when Justice Kagan asked “why a single state should decide who gets to be President of the United States.”
“Why” is not a question textualists usually ask. The Supremes did not ask why they should let everyone walk around with a gun. Or why it was a good idea to let unlimited amounts of dark money pervert our politics. Instead, in those case, they asked, “what do the words say,” and what did the framers mean when they wrote them. My own view, and that of many legal scholars including many high-profile conservative jurists, is that the words of the Constitution and the intent of its framers likely support the position Colorado has taken. At the same time, I think Kagan is right, individual states should not determine who the President is. The idea that a candidate could be on the ballot in some states but not others is absurd even if it’s what the Constitution says. That raises the possibility that our basic law is not perfect. The textualists argue that’s not their problem. For decades they have thundered, that if the law leads us to strange places, amend it. No thunder this time. This time they do not like where the law takes us. This week, the Supreme Court reminded, when it’s their ox being gored, we should expect neither recusals nor principles to stand in the way.
The Republican Speaker fails. Then fails again.
Across the street, the Republicans in Congress proved feckless, spineless, unprincipled, incompetent, idolatrous, and pathetic. And that was just in one day. Recall that Speaker Johnson told us he was called to the Speakership by God. He gave a speech about his path to the Speakership where he said, “I started praying more and the Lord began to wake me up.” He said as other candidates stepped up but didn’t have the votes, “I waited and waited and when it came to toward the end the Lord said, Now step forward. Me, I’m supposed to be Aaron and the Lord said step forward.” Mr. Johnson is clear. God spoke to him and said no more number two for you, you are going to be the man who parts the sea and leads the people to the promised land.
Well, if this week is any indication, I bet Johnson is praying to go back to bondage in Egypt. He had promised Mr. Trump and his fellow GOP House members, that he would impeach Homeland Secretary Mayorkas because the border is a mess. Dutifully, he prepared for the vote. And he whipped the votes. And he held the vote... And he lost.
He didn’t lose because Republicans changed their minds. In fact, their minds were as clear as ever. That day they made them clear to the rest of us too. The GOP followed Mr. Trump’s orders and killed the deal that they had themselves just negotiated to enact stricter immigration laws, provide billions for border security, and add immigration judges to speed up decisions on asylum. Their grand strategy, now as clear for all to see and as it lies in tatters on the House floor, was to make the border an issue, keep it an issue, and impeach Secretary Mayorkas to lay the crisis at the feet of the Biden Administration.
If their minds hadn’t changed, why did the vote fail? As the voting was underway a Democrat got up from his hospital bed and wheeled into the chambers in his gown and slippers. Was it a miracle from God, the raising of the sick to step into the breach? Speaker Johnson might ask the Lord about that the next time they talk. My guess is that it was government funded health care.
How do you spell Chaos with three letters? GOP
Later the same day, after saying that aid to Israel no longer need be contingent on a border deal (because after hearing from Mr. Trump they no longer needed a border deal), Johnson brought to the floor a package of support for Israel that lacked humanitarian aid for Palestinians and military aid for Ukraine. Once again, he counted the votes, he whipped the votes, and he lost the vote.
When Democrats pick up another seat next week in New York’s special election to replace the GOP liar George Santos, Mr. Johnson’s majority will be even smaller. Like his stature as a leader.
Meanwhile, GOP chair Rona McDaniel is stepping down. After years of sycophancy and supplication she is apparently no longer pleasing in the eye of Donald Trump. Theirs is a vengeful god indeed.
Real Consequences for people everywhere
Politically this was a terrible week for the GOP. But we live in the real world, and politics have consequences. Republican failures strengthened Vladimir Putin and weakened Europe. Republican infighting damaged Israel and increased the humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Republican cynicism extended our border crisis well into the future.
The sooner these people are out of our government the better.