Washington Republicans talk more about the voluntary decision by the Dr. Seuss organization to pull six older titles with, well, problem characterizations than the latest – much needed – stimulus plan. They succeeded in rallying objections to the “cancel culture” finding kids’ books.
In the spirit of Dr. Seuss, let’s take a look at Missouri’s two United States Senators – Thing 1 and Thing 2.
Thing 2 – junior senator Josh Hawley – gained infamy on January 6 with his fist salute to rioters. He’s featured prominently in the March/April edition of Mother Jones as one of Trump’s ‘apprentices:’
Cultural drift, villainous elites, and corporate power – these are the themes that drive Hawley’s politics today. He has even embraced the throwback nomenclature; Biden. He warned in November, was in the pocket of “tech robber barons.– March/April Mother Jones, p. 27.
The New York Times started this week with a massive story, starting on the front page, “Voices From Hawley’s History Wonder, Why So Angry Now?” As his middle school principal states,
“I was really disappointed he would suck the country into the lies that Trump told about the election. I just think that’s wrong.
— New York Times 3/8/21
Of course, while Hawley tries to pawn himself off as the friend of the working man, his reality includes being a successful banker’s son sent to elite schools, who clerked for the U. S. Supreme Court and then returned to Missouri – briefly – to establish himself in politics. His owns a $1 million+ house in a ritzy Virginia exurb of Washington but votes from his sister’s address in the Ozarks. News reports and extensive profiles reveal his naked political ambition, his desire to be Trump 2.0 in the White House, yet, he goes to CPAC [the Conservative Political Action Conference which morphed into the Donald Trump adoration society] and appears on FOX News sporting the cause of the day. As the profiles lay-out, he seeks ever more power not to do good but to rule.
Meanwhile, this week Missouri’s senior senator, Roy Blunt announced his retirement. Thing 1 received praise for being a ‘traditional Republican,’ almost a relic of a more sedate and productive era.
Let’s wash off the whitewash.
Roy Blunt always worked the side of the field most likely to win and expended a lot of energy clinging to power. When the Tea Party rose, he went with Ed Martin (known GOP political terrorist) to be photographed at a Tea Party rally in Washington, Missouri.
More recently, he voted repeatedly to kill the Affordable Care Act and against removing Donald Trump from office. During the stimulus debate Blunt spoke of families and businesses needing help – then voted against the Biden plan, knowing the GOP had no competent alternative (as happened with the Affordable Care Act repeal attempts).
Perhaps most telling, Donald Trump issued a statement about Blunt’s retirement…
I very much appreciate and respect the career of Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri. He was one of the first people who came to my defense against the Impeachment Hoax #2 (IH-2), and it was greatly appreciated by me. Congratulations to the entire Blunt family, and to Roy on a wonderful career!” – The Hill.com
So, ignore the praise heaped on the retiring ‘statesman.’ Like Thing 2 and Thing 1, both Hawley and Blunt didn’t govern, they rained mischief…”by flying kites in the house which bumped the wall and also knocked everything down in their path.” — Seuss Fandom
Glenn