Dysfunctional Family Feud

Congressional Republicans are more interested in fighting each other than in pretending to govern.

In the face of his party’s Speaker disaster, here’s a comical notion from a complaining Republican Congressional rep: “[The Democrats are] trying to make us look bad.” Yeah.. like they need help in that department.

There’s a real Donnybrook going on in the Republican House as they tear into one another on the notion that no leader who acknowledges Joe Biden’s 2020 victory is fit to serve, and that moderates who would compromise to actually govern must be put down like rabid dogs.

It’s a real race to the bottom, being led by Lauren Boebert, who continues to try to beat Marjorie Taylor Greene there. Boebert was, shall we say, “handsy,” with her date at a matinee performance of a children’s show in Denver. I guess she’s trying to help her estranged husband’s divorce case. She should probably have stopped at vaping, cursing, singing, and otherwise disrupting the performance with one of her own, but she can’t stand to be upstaged, even when in the audience.

Social media has lifted the lid on the national trash can. Initially thought to be a societal asset, giving everyone equal voice, it has turned out to be a nightmare of unhinged, angry, irrational screeds enabled by easy access and anonymity. (Not to mention horrible grammar.)

When Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, the satirical website, The Onion, pronounced, “America awards worst job to a Black man.” Today, the worst job in America is Speaker of the House. Imagine trying to govern more than 200 unruly 8^th graders.

Apparently the most important bullet point on a candidate’s résumé is denying the results of the 2020 election. The warring internecine factions finally elected Mike Johnson (R-Invisible). He was selected unanimously, primarily because nobody knew who he was.

Identifying as a “Christian nationalist,” he wants a nationwide abortion ban, an end to civil rights for the LGBTQ+ community, and to stop funding for Ukraine (according multiple sources, he accepted a lot of money from Russia via a US company). He’s in the cat-bird-seat, and even under gerrymandered minority rule, those things are unlikely to see the light of legislative day, because there are still a handful of Republicans who are not in safe seats, and who would like to be reelected. Regardless, the Senate would never approve, and Biden would veto anyway. The new Speaker wants to offset aid to Israel by taking money from the IRS, a blatant gift to rich tax dodgers. (Multiple sources say that for every dollar the IRS spends on enforcement, the Treasury gets twelve back.)

They are a group that openly admits they have less interest in governing than playing politics. The last failed speaker-designate, Jim Jordan (R-Combover), has been in Congress for 16 years and has never gotten a piece of legislation passed. He is however, very excited to investigate his so-called “Biden Crime Family” at the expense of the nation’s business, and to continue cheerleading for endless investigations and impeachments. As Bret Stephens wrote, “If the impeachment inquiry were any more premature, it would be a teenage boy.”

Candidate Trump has taken to denigrating Joe Biden for his age. It’s a little bit like the pumps calling the handbag beige, and it would be significantly more effective if after making fun of Biden, Trump did not brag to his enthusiastic crowd that he had beaten Obama for the presidency. After making fun of Biden by pretending that “Old Joe” had confused, Iowa for Idaho (which he had not), The Donald went on to confuse Iowa for South Dakota.

As you might guess, this got his Republican rivals excited at the opportunity to dismiss Trump for his off-the-mark attack. Both Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis came after him. DeSantis said that Trump has lost a lot off of his fastball since he first appeared on the political scene in 2015, and Haley demanded that candidates over 75 pass a cognitive ability test. I would suggest that every single candidate for office and the judiciary should have to pass a similar test.

Unsurprisingly, Fox got in on the fun by slickly editing Biden‘s speeches to make him look much more dissociative than he actually is. That prompted the Daily Show to do the same thing with Donald Trump, using the same edits on Trump that Fox used on Biden. Hilarity ensued.

And finally, this from Next Draft. It sounds like an international article, but it’s really a warning based on the MAGA movement, and a cry for help, wishing non-MAGA Republicans would turn up the heat even higher: “Benjamin Netanyahu apologized on Sunday for blaming his country’s security services for the lapses that led to the surprise attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7. However, he couldn’t accept any blame, because a narcissist only knows how to protect one person: himself.

“America, take note.”

©2023 Jon Sinton