I was strangely concerned yesterday morning when I read that Kevin McCarthy had removed himself from consideration as Speaker of the House. It’s not like he would have been great, but he didn’t seem to be totally insane. And all we are really asking of the Republicans in the House is that they not destroy the world economy for the sake of making a “statement.” So who’s it gonna be now? Currently, we only know of Daniel Webster and Jason Chaffetz — two freaks. Is this what we have to look forward to?
The conventional wisdom — which I have generally followed along with — is that with power goes responsibility. Boehner acted the way he did because he — like all the Republicans — knows (or thinks) that blowing up the economy would be bad for them. Therefore, anyone in the job would be responsible. But that’s a questionable assumption, not a compelling conclusion. This really hit home to me when I heard Ben Carson interviewed on Marketplace. It was clear that Carson didn’t understand what the debt ceiling was all about. And I suspect that this is also true of many, if not most, of the Republicans in the House.
I’m starting to have these visions of Donald Trump in the White House with a General trying to explain to him that bombing Moscow would be a bad idea. Such a large part of the Republican Party has been completely cut off from the real world for such a long time. Their delusions now dictate their policies. And we’ve most definitely seen this with regard to the debt ceiling, where many Republicans have tried to make the case that breaching it would be no big deal. So what happens if such a person becomes Speaker of the House? Or are we going to get what the freaks always claim with a government shutdown: if only they just hung on another day, week, month that they would have “won”? It’s madness, but sadly all too possible.
According to Think Progress, Kevin McCarthy Suggests House Republicans Are Ungovernable, May Need To “Hit Rock Bottom.” It is hard to construe that in any way that isn’t terrifying. When drunks “hit rock bottom” they destroy their lives. The GOP hitting rock bottom could well destroy the world economy.
Steve M at No More Mister Nice Blog wrote a really angry, and I think accurate, article yesterday, First They Came for the GOP Moderates… It isn’t even directly about the crazies in the Republican Party; it’s about the likes of Colin Powell, Christie Todd Whitman, and William Weld. He noted, “The party in recent years has made its right-centrists… increasingly unwelcome. And they did nothing to fight back, except occasionally stamp an ineffectual foot…”
I’m angry too. The Republican Party didn’t just wake up this way one morning. And it isn’t just the Republican “moderates,” either. (It’s really kind of a joke. Whitman withheld clean syringes from drug users because facts don’t matter to her any more than they do Louie Gohmert.) It’s also the fault of the Democratic Party — most especially the New Democrats. And it is the fault of the American people for not caring enough to distinguish because a moderate party and proto-fascist radicals.
But perhaps McCarthy is right: sometimes you need to hit rock bottom. But that’s not a statement about the GOP, but the world. Maybe this is what it will take for us all to realize that we can’t allow any country to have the kind of power that the US has. All it takes is a handful of talk radio created lunatics and a disinterested electorate and the economy is destroyed. It’s truly amazing.
Oh we are going to have to hit rock bottom before the adults will come back. Or maybe not. One of the big things that has happened since the 1970s is this sense of learned helplessness. So few people really want to do the things that require changing life for the better on a society level and the ones who do get burned out after a while. So if you do not have a huge crisis to work off of, it is really hard to change anything. Although…now that I think about it…the same thing happened in 1932 so maybe it is something that is a normal condition for us humans.
Maybe I am wrong and the next speaker will screw things up like Gingrich did by being such a petulant kid that it spills over on the Congressional races and we get a lopsided congress for the next Democratic President.
I’m afraid you are right, except for the hopeful stuff about the Great Depression. :-)
Here’s what I don’t understand: are there really Representatives who are so delusional that they think if only Boehner had been stronger (that is, more insane) they would have gotten something? As it is, in 2013, Boehner wanted to extort the nation with the Debt Ceiling. But the crazies insisted on doing it over a government shutdown, which was a far less crazy thing to do. Their real complaint is that Obama is still president. What was Boehner supposed to do about that? Do they want armed revolt?!
Oh, I am an American alright, still irrationally optimistic even when things are at their worst.
I do however believe that they kind of want an armed revolt-just not them having to do the armed revolution. Sure they like their guns but they don’t want to have to go to prison. So they are happy to do their best to get other people to do it without going completely over the line. What they are going to do when Clinton is President is anyone’s guess but it will be bad. I just think she is expecting their temper tantrums and she knows better than to campaign on bipartisanship so she mostly likely will ignore them and work with the two reasonable leftover Republicans and the Dems.
That is the appealing hope I have for Clinton — that she’ll be less delusional than Obama was (I doubt he is anymore) about winning the nutjobs over. She’d still have to deal with Repubs and be blocked at every turn. But I suspect she’d be a tougher negotiator.
As for what they’ll do if she’s elected, I think we can predict that. More phony scandal-seeking and tons of outrage over her every military decision. Repubs never let go of a theme until it stops working. They’ve been selling “Democrats are soft on US military power” since the Cold War, why stop now. And “scandals!” are their Clinton meme. People buy it, so run with it.
It’s to Obama’s credit that he’s been immune from the scandal-seeking for the most part. He hasn’t appointed people to the Cabinet I agree with, but they’ve been reasonably clean. Only corrupt in the usual revolving-door sense, which Repubs can’t use.
Yeah, cynicism can be bad, but regarding that, it’s absolutely necessary. That was something I was very angry about with Obama early on. It was clear the Republicans wouldn’t work with him. Yet he kept trying. And then the moment he started playing hardball, they behaved better. Of course, they came up with the “imperial presidency” nonsense, but they had to find something to take the place of “Kenyan usurper.”
I used to get angry at him for the same reason-I was like “did you learn nothing from the Clinton era?!” But he was sincere in his belief of bipartisanship. So he put up with their hatred a lot longer then he should have. Then again, as a Black man in the US, he probably was used to it.
There’s also the media side of it. If he hadn’t turned somersaults for the Republicans, the mainstream press probably would have blamed him. Of course, as it is, they generally give him half the blame, which aggravates me more than I can say.
I loathe the beltway press-mainly because I wish I could be as lazy and irresponsible as they are for the money they get. But noooooooo, I have to have ethics and morals and the ability to think.
Then again, it is hard to do what Norm Ornstein and Thomas Mann did if you want to keep that access going and actually be honest to the public for once.
That’s a particularly interesting case. I used to see those guys everywhere. Then, when they actually admit to what is going on, they are suddenly relegated to liberal outlets. This is exactly what I’m talking about. Is there any level of Republican dysfunction that will allow the mainstream press to admit that something is very wrong? It’s like Germany 1932, “Yes, the Nazis are brutal racists, but the Social Democrats are hardly perfect…”
Since I don’t read much of the beltway press, I do not know if the Speaker race has allowed them to be honest for a while about how dysfunctional the Republicans are. However they will have to immediately switch back as soon as the new Speaker is found to be hiding under some rock somewhere. I keep meaning to send in my resume, no reason they cannot appoint me to act like a schoolmarm.
That would be perfect. Whip those guys into shape!
See, I was gleeful about all this, but you’ve sobered me up.
It’s not good when one of the major parties collapses. People depend on the GOP – I disagree with those people, but if the GOP stops functioning things get scary and dysfunctional for all of us.
Good post, man.
Thanks. The whole thing really is terrifying. I’m actively avoiding thinking about it. I should go listen to Doris Day sing “Que Sera, Sera” and try to calm myself.