When is a victory actually a loss?
I thought about that while reading of Lauren Bobert’s squeaker of a win for re-election to the House of Representatives from Colorado. Never apologizing for her denier sensibilities nor for her overwhelming lack of tact, she still managed a narrow victory over a strong Democrat. She takes her 600 vote win as a mandate to continue with the likes of Marjorie Taylor Green and Jim Jordan as the official burrs under the GOP’s saddle.
At last count, including Bobert, the Republicans had captured 218 House seats – the bare minimum to control the chamber – with five races undeclared. In other words, as incoming Speaker Kevin McCarthy holds, at best, a six vote plurality out of 435 voting members. That means Boebert, Green, Jordan and their ilk can force McCarthy to do very stupid stuff.
No, not just hearings on Hunter Biden’s laptop. Talk swirls around impeachment hearings on Attorney General Merrick Garland and various other Cabinet officials (and, maybe even President Joe Biden), investigations into the way the administration handled Afghanistan and Covid, and, to begin the fun and games, a government shutdown.
True, Democrats will control the House till January and the current funding deal ends on December 6th. Still, a lot of pesky procedural tricks could stall that necessary legislation. That could force a compromise to only push the deadline off a month – till the GOP rules the House.
With Democrats retaining control of the Senate it’s guaranteed that no impeachment effort will succeed. And, genuinely horrible legislation – such as a nation wide ban on all abortions – will not become law.
Still, Kevin McCarthy remains a hostage to the extreme right edge of his party, they who deny that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, that a tidal wave of crime must be met with oppression by the police, and, that Critical Race Theory is but one of several woke liberal tricks to corrupt America’s youth.
Herding cats seems easier.
McCarthy has proved time and again that he lacks a single drop of statesmanship. When previous speakers such as John Boehner and Paul Ryan could get past the bluster and find their way to compromise, well, that’s not McCarthy’s way and the extremists in his clan will rebel against common sense.
I suggest we quietly laugh at the Republicans as they chase their windmills. Let them elevate their obsessions into the stratosphere, let them wreak havoc on America’s credit rating and let calls to Social Security go unanswered. The crazies in the GOP will do more to elect Democrats up and down the ballot in 2024 than any campaign we can organize. Let’s even encourage McCarthy to regularly visit Mar A Lago to kneel on TV for Trump’s blessing.
The bottom line is that the new Speaker of The House is too weak to command respect and effectively lead. He will surround himself with others unwilling to keep the edgers in check. Chaos will reign. Yes, that’s bad, for now…
Glenn Koenen
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/assorted-color-kittens-45170/