There’s a new term we need to add to the national discourse. MINO Republicans. Moderate In NAME Only. They talk the talk, but when it matters most almost all of them always cave to the Krazy Kaucus. Like abused puppies Trump/MAGA just showing them a rolled up newspaper or magazine brings them into line.
Rachel Maddow has often told us not to listen to what Republicans say, but watch what they do! MSNBC has a piece up from Maddow Blog, and the title says it’s time to retire the notion there are ‘moderates’ in the GOP. After reading it the saying about watch what they do jumped to mind. The more I’ve thought about it in the past hour the more I think finding true moderate Republicans, the kind of “Rockefeller Republicans” is a Diogenes level quest.
Ok, so once in a blue moon some GOPer casts a principled vote saying conservatives have gone too far. But the Josh Marshall quote in the title picture lays the situation bare. For all the talk about moderates in the House and the supposed power a couple dozen of them hold they don’t have the guts to use it. You have the Free-Dumb Caucus crazies. Another and much larger group who live in red districts who are afraid to stand up to them. And you have this small group in true swing districts that COULD make a difference IF they had the guts to do so.
Instead, like Senate counterparts such as Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski they talk the talk, voicing concerns and such but damned near every time Trump/MAGA gets to them. Promises and/or assurances everyone knows won’t be kept are made. Sometimes it’s a provision in a bill (look at Murkowski and the bill that got passed last week) and sometimes outright threats. At the very least of getting primaried out of office and sometimes subtle (or privately not at all subtle) threats. Or some combination of all that. But the point is that when it matters they cave.
The linked article cites Don Bacon who a month ago announced his retirement. He was free to vote his conscience and chose to vote for Trump’s bill! It goes on to note that for all the talk about him being moderate so far this year he’s not once voted against what Trump/MAGA wanted! The article goes on to note this is a symptom of a larger problem:
A couple of years ago, an unnamed GOP lawmaker told an NBC News reporter, “Moderates always cave. A tale as old as time.” That’s largely true, though it also raises related questions that are too often overlooked: If “moderates” effectively always vote the same way as their far-right colleagues, then are they actually “moderates”? Or does it make more sense for the political world to pause, reassess and come to terms with the apparent fact that the “moderate” Republican wing simply doesn’t exist?
The author goes on to talk about how this echoes The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait back in 2023. Chait describes this group having a lot of power. They could he said go to Johnson and warn of the consequences of being ‘too MAGA’ and how it will wind up with the GOP again becoming the minority. At least in the House. He goes on to say they actually have a lot of leverage, just not the will (or guts) to use it:
But they don’t use that leverage — perhaps because they’re too weak, perhaps because they’re too scared, or perhaps because their genuine political beliefs aren’t nearly as “centrist” as they like to pretend.
That last sentence really hit home to me. For all the talk when selling themselves on the campaign trail were they ever actually moderate? Willing to stand up to the extremists in their Party? Because they sure as hell don’t vote that way!! Look, a person can call themselves anything. However actions tell the real story and talking tough only to run away from a confrontation means a person is NOT tough.
As Joan Allen’s character says to the President near the end of the movie The Contender “Principles only matter if you stick to them when they’re inconvenient.” MINOs are nothing but balloons that will pop themselves. Talk is cheap. Both in the House and Senate MINOs talked the talk but didn’t have the guts to walk the walk. How much will their cowardice cost? How many businesses, communities and families will be ruined?
How many LIVES will be lost on the alter of RWNJ conservatism? We are dealing with a stark reminder. The death toll in Texas from the flash floods has topped eighty. Would a halfway decent warning system have save them all? Probably not but it would have saved a LOT of them. Yet for years Kerr County has refused to spend money on one, and even passed up on trying to get a million dollar grant for one modeled on what a county upriver did. We aren’t talking billion dollar satellites either. Cell towers and warning sirens in a place known by the nickname ‘Flash Flood Alley’ COULD have been installed.
But for Republicans being actual moderates means forcing their colleagues to accept some things conservatives refuse to even consider. NOT cutting taxes for the richest among us and paying for them by taking away services most Americans count on. And in some cases like rural hospitals that will close due to Medicaid cuts, or an early warning system for flash floods or other natural disasters (tornados were the thing where I grew up and sirens were installed around my hometown and tested every month) and so many other things.
I was amazed some of those swing district Republicans survived last November. They dodged a political bullet but have to know they won’t be so lucky next time. Even in ruby red places those with enough stones to have public events have caught holy hell from constituents as Trump’s dream bill was being worked on. That’s why I was amazed that the so-called moderates in the House didn’t band together and force Johnson to make changes.
Oh, they talked. But what did they actually DO? They rolled over. If a rose by any other name still smells as sweet. a GOP moderate made of a squishy turd that’s easily molded to a yes vote for Trump still smells like a turd. So let’s BRAND these spineless Republicans as what they are. Moderates in NAME only and hammer them over the head with it. If as I suspect may happen by the end of the year a bunch of them decide to “spend more time with family”, or “engage in new opportunities”, in other words choose not to run for re-election we need to be ready.
You can bet there will be others who try to play the same MINO game. Talk the talk but in the end vote with the RWNJ types. That’s something every Democratic candidate and campaign needs to be ready with. Hard-hitting talking points about what Republicans SAID vs. what they actually DID, which was to screw over most Americans so “Lord God Emperor Master of the Universe’ Trumpty could get his bigly win. Because I guarantee you any GOPer in an open swing district who talks about being a “moderate” will be LYING.
So let’s bury the myth of a moderate group of Republicans that will at least partially mitigate the worst excesses of the crazies. It died a long time ago. It’s gone forever so let’s accept that make sure to get worthy Democrats running in every race. AND push the message that Republicans claiming to be moderate are LYING. They might want to be moderate if in power but Trump/MAGA will swallow them whole and crap out cowardly cavers to the extremists.
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Really need a better moniker than “MINO” as that “M” could just as easily be co-opted as “MAGA In Name Only.” And Drumpf and his minions haven’t been hesitant in describing “wavering” GOPers as “not true MAGA” and “not MAGA enough.”