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The major theme running through this book is that Trump isn’t the cause of the GOP’s intellectual and moral bankruptcy he’s just the logical conclusion. As we have seen, far from 2016 being unusual, it was the third time in 50 years the Republican party was credibly accused of colluding with a hostile foreign power to win a Presidential election. The Brett Kavanaugh debacle reminded us that that the GOP didn’t need the Russians to engage in the hacking and weaponization of Democratic emails. Then there are the more small bore every day ways in which the GOP cheats and rigs elections-voter suppression, gerrymandering, redistricting, etc. The modern GOP has gotten down coming to power based on minority rule to a science.
In power the party’s governing philosophy is that government is the problem and needs to be drowned in a bathtub. Which brings us to the current #TrumpShutdown. They certainly didn’t need Trump to get the idea of weaponizing the shutting down of the government-or refusing to raise the debt ceiling to attempt to gain policy concessions. The current #TrumpShutdown is the third time the GOP has shut down the government for at least 16 days since Newt shut it down for 21 days in 1995 because Clinton stiffed him on Air Force One.
As usual, there’s a lot of bad reporting about the current shutdown. One is the media keeps framing it as ‘no adults in the room’ and a fight between two squabbling partisans-they speak of ‘both sides being dug in.’ The problem with this is that this is not a negotiation-it’s a hostage situation. Trump-and McConnell-have allowed the government to shut down in an attempt to achieve policy goals that have nothing to do with funding the government and which they are unable to achieve through regular order. This is why it’s obscene to talk about how both sides should stop bickering and meet in the middle.
If parents had their daughter kidnapped would you characterize their discussions with the kidnapper as ‘bickering and squabbling’ and demand that they meet him ‘in the middle?’
As for the way out, this has also been totally missed. Most of the commentary has framed it as ‘what will get President Trump to relent and reopen the government?’
They then get into the usual thoroughly dismal and tepid attempts to try to gaze at ‘President Trump’s’ navel: what does he really want, what’s his political strategy. But you have to admit his base loves this he’s doing this for his base.
But it’s not about Trump. It’s about Mitch McConnell. There was some commentary about the fact that he wasn’t standing with Trump in his vapid press conference on Friday. Why this was is no mystery-McConnell is trying to separate himself as far as possible from this. But he can take a plain to China and he still can’t escape the fact that he’s responsible for this. He’s responsible for all those Americans who depend on government services being left out in the cold, for the government workers who have started not to receive their paychecks and the many Americans who will soon see their tax refunds being withheld.
The question is how much pain will McConnell be able to stand? There are already a few GOP Senators calling for this to end-Susan Collins and Corey Gardner. The chorus will only grow louder. The media keeps repeating ‘I see no end to this in sight this could go on for a long time as neither Trump or the Democrats will budge’-right neither the hostage takers or the parents of the kidnapped teenager will budge. Both need to be more civil and reasonable-right Chuck Todd?
But once Americans start being deprived their refund checks it’s hard to see this being sustainable for very long. McConnell will have to put up the same basic bill he already passed and pass it again. Only question is when-but my guess is sooner rather than later-certainly not months, more like weeks-if not days-this will be the first week many government workers won’t receive paychecks
But the media should focus on McConnell not Trump for guidance on when this ends.
But it’s worth reflecting on how despicable this attempted extortion by the GOP is. Trump actually relished saying that he’s willing to go ‘years’ on this; as usual, he arrogates to himself the right to speak for government workers and claim they support what he’s doing-sure they’re willing to go without a paycheck for the next two years all to give Trump a ‘win.’ Who needs to pay your rent if you can help ‘President Trump?’
But again, it’s the entire GOP. If nothing else, the rise of Trump has unmasked Lindsay Graham:
“Pelosi has made progress as she has gone from a penny to a dollar!” Graham shouted. “Why would you negotiate with somebody who calls you a racist if you want a wall..gives you a dollar for a wall?” 'We're not going to give in to the radical left – ever!' https://t.co/fY6TYmc3yi
— EssenViews (@essenviews) January 6, 2019
Just think for a moment about how despicable and reprehensible this is. It’s a frank and brazen admission that this is totally political, wholly void of substance. It’s about fighting the ‘radical left’ of denying them a victory-simply funding the government without extorting concessions is now seen as a great victory for the ‘Left.’
And just like Trump, Lindsay’s prepared to let Americans be deprived their paychecks, their services, their refund checks in order to deprive the fiendish Democrats of a ‘win.’
Lindsay seems to think that because the Democrats criticize his party there’s no incentive to do anything. Apparently in order to stop hurting regular Americans isn’t a compelling enough reason for Lindsay Graham.
The moral repugnancy of this is a fitting end to total GOP rule of the last two years-kind of reaffirming the wisdom of the voters-of the last eight years of the GOP holding the House and, really, the GOP since the time of Nixon-a party that rather than adjust and adapt to the will of the American people have done everything they can to somehow thwart and subvert their will.
The media rightly says the American people want to government to work and are tired of the dysfunction. If so then don’t vote for the
GOP at any level, including dog catcher.
UPDATE: The above chapter was written January 7, 2019, this morning is June 3, 2019.
One reason Pelosi and Friends seem to be impeachment phobic is worry that it will somehow magically hurt them in 2020. The problem with this view is twofold-
1. It’s the wrong frame to decide impeachment-the correct frame being principle as Elizabeth Warren clearly understands.
2. Even in terms of political calculus it’s highly questionable-it’s based on a false premise of the effects of the Clinton impeachment. Allan Litchman the professor who successfully predicted Trump in 2016-and has a pretty good track record on Presidential elections overall-is now warning that Trump will win if he’s not impeached.
There’s little debate that the Dem leaders remember Clinton’s impeachment wrong-true the GOP did lose seats running on impeachment in 1998. But then they impeached Clinton in the lame duck taking no time for any actual hearings and voted and failed to convict two months later in February 1999.
Still they ended up with the WH, and both Houses of Congress in 2000-with help from Bush v. Gore true.
Even while the public opposed impeaching Clinton the simple fact of it still sullied the Clinton brand-arguable so much so that it hurt Hillary’s future POTUS campaigns. Gore felt that he couldn’t use Clinton in 2000 despite popularity of 60%.
And in that vein Litchman argues that more than just that impeaching Clinton didn’t hurt the GOP it actually ensured their victory for W-as one of the indicators that must be met for the incumbent party-the party in the WH-to be defeated is scandal.
However another rather odd premise Pelosi has suggested is that impeachment will suck all the air out of the room-we have to do our job for the American people and pass legislation for them.
The trouble with this is that while she argues impeachment is a waste of time as McConnell and Friends won’t convict, McConnell also won’t vote for healthcare legislation, LGBT rights, voting rights, financial reform-and the rest of the many pieces of legislation passed by the House only to get tabled by Mitch McConnell.
When Hakeem Jeffries even now thinks it’s important to reassure that ‘we won’t overinvestigate’-which is great for Trump and the co-conspirators who do plan to overinvestigate the investigators-it’s based on this flawed premise that you can’t investigate or even impeach the President while passing legislation. History shows the opposite-both Nixon and Clinton signed very significant legislation while Congress was working feverishly to take them down.
But the real reason no legislation isn’t getting done is nothing to do with impeachment but rather Mitch McConnell aka the grim reaper.