Republican “angst” over Hamas’ massive terrorist attack and the new war it’s incited in Israel doesn’t impress me. Not one bit. Every “tear” is a crocodile tear as far as I’m concerned because there are actions the GOP could have taken starting on Sunday and they haven’t done a single one. NOT A SINGLE ONE. We are WAY the hell past the meaningless b.s. “thoughts and prayers” we get from conservatives after mass shootings. Way past. Things were bad but I always say (and most of you agree) no matter how bad things sometimes get they can still get worse.
Things are worse. What should both infuriate and scare the hell out of you is that it might well get much, much worse both and home and abroad.
The Republican Party has been on life support for too many years and a good while back the plug on the machines got pulled. Sometimes it takes a while for the patient to actually die but I think we’ve reached the point where the heart has stopped beating and there’s no more brain activity. The Senate which so prides itself on being made up of “grown-ups” became increasingly dysfunctional under McConnell’s leadership of the GOP there. He’s no longer the iron-fisted and in control dude that can impose his will in moments where that type of thing is needed. That’s why we have this insanely long period of time where a junior Senator from Alabama can strut and posture like he did as a college football coach and f**k with our military. Or others can, to score points back home (states can’t be gerrymandered after all) to prevent being primaried play big shot by holding up this or that Ambassador to some of the most high profile and critical postings.
And then there’s the House which has been a cluster f**k since January and the circus show Speaker selection which left Kevin McCarthy doomed from day one. All along one of the rules changes he allowed to get his coveted gavel, the one that allowed a single House member to call for a vote to remove him hung over his head. Many of the same crazies who put him through the wringer wanted a govt. shutdown having learned NOTHING from what it’s cost the GOP in the past. Trump wanted one too, but it’s not like he had to twist arms to get enough House GOPers to punish McCarthy for avoiding a shutdown.
So Bratty Matty Gaetz engineered McCarthy’s ouster, but of course didn’t think things through. Instead of having a replacement that could pull the necessary votes ready to go he pulled the trigger. Come to think of it what we’ve seen since indicates Gaetz never could have had a replacement acceptable to him and his fellow crazies. I’ll also bet he didn’t understand the workings of the House well enough to know all an Interim Speaker can do is call the House to order to deal with electing a new Speaker, and recess it if they can’t. Or maybe he did know that and figured an even bigger and longer sh*t show than the one he caused in January would make it impossible to avoid a shutdown when the 45 day CR to keep the govt. open was pushed through by McCarthy.
Yeah Matt, a govt. shutdown with all the economic disruption that will ruin most American’s holidays right before we head into a Presidential election year will help you and your cronies! (Even Ted Cruz has to be saying WTF is WRONG with this guy?)
The bottom line in the House is that they can’t function without a Speaker. Not to pass legislation to keep the govt. open. Or anything else for that matter which means that even if the Senate has passed something that urgently needs the President’s signature it can’t be done. We are in deep, deep brown organic waste matter.
Ukraine funding is needed and needed urgently. As a price for keeping the govt. open 6 billion was stripped out of the CR on Sept. 30. There’s strong bi-partisan support in the Senate and although much less so enough in the House to pass it. But it can’t happen as things stand. That could have terrible and far reaching implications for the war in Europe. Now we have a second war in Israel that could quickly expand in the region and we need to pass military assistance for that too! Again, because of the mess in the House nothing can be done. Also, as I mentioned some key Ambassadorships are unfilled including an Ambassador to Israel! Seems like a rather critical post to be filled and the Senate could do it tomorrow if the GOP would allow it.
We have shifted one carrier group to the waters off Israel and might send a second to help contain things in the region. That means a lot of scrambling for NATO all while trying to help Ukraine keep up the slow but steady process of driving Russian forces back into Russia.  So things got really bad in a hurry after McCarthy’s ouster. How could it get worse?
China and Taiwan.
If you don’t think for one second China hasn’t been gaming out military and economic/trade scenarios from the moment of McCarthy’s fall you don’t get the situation. With Hamas, a terrorist organization sponsored by Iran and tolerated for so long by Netanyahu as a counter to the Palestinian Authority to ensure no “two-state” solution would ever be reached there are teams in China now working around the clock! If they launched a military effort to take over Taiwan by force tomorrow there’s nothing we or the rest of the world can do. The ONLY thing holding them back are the diplomatic/economic consequences which brings me back to Senate dysfunction from the GOP. Holding up not just key military leadership promotions and postings but diplomatic ones as well makes it tougher to convince countries in the Pacific rim to stand firm against China.
Given how scoring political points is FAR more important to the GOP than protecting America’s and the free world’s interests allies, or at least those willing to work with us in the Pacific have to be thinking as Europe started to do during the Trump years. That while the United States could be counted on as the unwavering, indispensable nation and partner. The undisputed leader of the free world. As I’ve said lots of times (so have others including here) Bush 43 was our “mulligan” with the world. The free world looked on with horror as Trump devoured what was left of the GOP and then as President went to work on doing the same to the established world order.
Enemies of us and freedom in general were emboldened and allies were left to quietly start figuring out how to get by in a world where a Donald Trump could wind up President every four years. Now, looking at the mess the GOP has made of the House starting in early January our allies have to be thinking they were foolish to count on even four good years from the not so United States! What they see is performance art (or rather jackassery) from one of our two major political Parties, and the one which for so many decades couldn’t beat its chest enough about declaring us the protector of the free world, and that ANY turning to Democrats for leadership was risking freedom around the globe now being (as I’ve said) no longer caring. Republicans are either posturing to gain money and votes or just trying to please Trump (or stay off his hit list) or both.
The good of the country, much less the world is NOTHING compared with maintaining their precious seats in the House or Senate.
So be angry. Or be afraid. Or like me be both because we are pretty much in a windowless spacecraft that was supposed to go to a specific place but the guidance system got intentionally fried by some a-hole and the engines started steering in every crazy direction imaginable. Thanks to the sabotage the engines are out of fuel and we have no idea where we are headed. Maybe if we’re lucky into a free-return lunar trajectory that allows at least a chance of a rescue. Not much given the time to launch another rocket but at least theoretically possible. Or we might be on a trajectory that will crash us into the sun. Or maybe just out into space with nothing but light-years worth of empty space ahead and we’ll all die when the supplies run out.
And it’s the REPUBLICAN Party’s fault.
Trump must be stopped. He normalizes violence to his cult as he prepares them to overthrow democracy. Let’s get on the ball people before it is too late. like Paul Revere …the Magas are coming ,the Maggots are coming the GOP is dead
Agreed. But, the question that always pops up in my mind is, what to do after having overthrown democracy. Nobody thinks about that. The answer is in the voters. You have the power. Take off your red hat, put down the beer, and switch off FOX news. FOX “news” is not news, it’s propaganda. Find a channel that provides actual news about what’s really going on in this country. Maybe even Google “Trump news” and read those articles.
If you feel your life is crappy, call Trump and ask him to help you. He won’t. He hates people and he hates himself. That’s the reason for his crazy antics. VOTE TRUMP OUT!
Well said, Reeg!!!
Just keep in mind that it’s no longer just Trump. It’s damned near EVERY Republican. Even those who want him gone as much as you or I do but are afraid to speak out loudly and often because they are afraid of a primary challenge are complicit in their silence.
Denis, I am wondering, if you dislike commas, as much as, you dislike tRump, and MAGAtes. I am getting better, at following the flow of, if not the wisdom of, your rather long, sentences, and, if not intentional, then , oddly placed, or non, existent, commas. I read, your articles while, trying to fill, in, the commas, in my mind, as I, go. Could, you please, try, to insert, regular commas, and maybe, an Oxford, Comma (look, it, up,) or two, so some, of us, might not, cringe each, time we, long for some, punctuation we, can, follow? Asking, for, a, friend. (Ursula, please approve my comment, because it’s meant to teach and not to embarrass.)
Point taken Meg. I don’t like criticism any more than anyone else but when well-intentioned and constructive I take it seriously. And to heart. At times I’ve realized a need to break up thoughts into shorter segments/sentences but too easily fall back into old writing habits that have plagued me for longer than I care to admit. I can’t promise to always be better but I’ll try to put into practice what you suggest.
The GOP.has only ever paid lip.service to Israel. They know evangelical voters support Israel so the End Times must start there in a Jewish homeland, but they are also rabidly anti-Semitic. After all, once their Lord and Savior comes back,144,000 Jews will convert to Christianity and the rest of those Jews they actually hate(Protocols of Elders of Zion, folks?)will go to hell along with more liberal Christians, atheists and non-Christians and everyone but people just like themselves. They like Israel, but hate Jews.