Kanye. Elon. Trump. Thus wrote Republican House Judiciary Committee members in a Twitter post in October. That’s all it said.
Not exactly the sixties ballad “Abraham, Martin and John.”
The troika was proclaimed by the senior Republican on the Committee, Jim Jordan. The three men evidently speak to what Republicans on the Judiciary Committee believe in.
So how are things going for those three?
Kanye West, having dined with Donald Trump recently at Mar-a-Lago along with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, has now proclaimed that he is a Nazi and someone who admires Adolph Hitler – doing so while wearing a mask, sitting with Sandy Hook denier Alex Jones.
Elon Musk, as you may have heard, recently bought Twitter for $44 billion with the help of Saudi money. He is in the process of dismantling that social media system while transforming it into the wild, wild west for every right-wing screwball who wants to spread their versions of conspiracy theories. Truth seems to be gone as a goal of the company. Hatred and racism appear to be acceptable.
As for Trump, he has been in a bad place lately. Courts are ruling against him, even when he appointed the judges. People close to him in the White House are getting called before grand juries. The evidence is piling up that he has been a lawbreaker. Multiple investigations are all pointing in the same direction.
Most recently he called for the termination of the Constitution while “installing” himself as president. Republicans, once again, are mostly silent. It is time for Democrats to take it to the Republicans. Absent any direct criticism of Trump, Republicans should be assumed to be in sync with Trump’s desire to terminate the Constitution.
By the way, that Kanye.Elon.Trump tweet has been deleted.
Meanwhile, the man who would be the leader of the House Republican majority, Kevin McCarthy, struggles to demonstrate even the most basic signs of competency and intelligence. What is left of his soul, after years of bowing to Trump, is being sold off to the Crazy Caucus. As ringleader Marjorie Taylor Greene said last month, “I think that to be the best speaker of the House and to please the base, [McCarthy is] going to give me a lot of power and a lot of leeway.”
Here’s a great irony: McCarthy says his House members will read the Constitution in the Chambers on the first day of session. That makes no sense when their party wants to dismiss the Constitution.
The Republican Party in Congress, in days gone by, tried to present itself as the party of ideas. The House majority in 2023 is presenting itself as the party trying to pretend that the Trump administration was honest and accomplished. Fortunately the truth that contradicts such an approach is well documented.
At the end of the day (but perhaps not the on the scheduled day, January 3), Republicans will elect a new speaker. They will have a majority of four votes. Five Republicans have already said they will not vote for McCarthy.
The next speaker might be the weakened Kevin McCarthy, but it might also be someone else. Every vote on every issue over the next two years, whether consequential or minor, will find the Republicans struggling to achieve a majority. The Crazy Caucus will exercise its voting power over everything. What passes for moderates in the Republican caucus will also find that they can exercise a degree of control. Everyone will be a Joe Manchin.
Whoever is selected as the speaker ought to take a moment to consider the history of Republican House leaders over the past 28 years:
- Newt Gingrich’s four-year reign, from 1995 through 1998, managed to create a fight-at-all-costs atmosphere that shut down the government. The impeachment of Bill Clinton led to the loss of Republican House seats in 1998. Gingrich left Congress.
- Bob Livingston of Louisiana was chosen to take Gingrich’s place but never got the gavel after a sex scandal was revealed.
- Dennis Hastert served as Speaker for eight years but was hounded by his own scandal after that term and wound up in prison.
- John Boehner served as Speaker for four years (2011-2015) but was essentially driven from the office by the Crazy Caucus.
- Paul Ryan was Speaker from 2015 through 2019 and then left the House altogether, giving up on working with Trump while serving as Republican leader.
Democrats in the House have moved easily into their new role with a new generation of leadership under Hakeem Jeffries. The weak and disorganized Republicans will be forced to work with the Dems at least on such must-pass things like budgets and debt ceilings, which will enrage the Crazy Caucus.
We are about to see all sorts of commentary about Hunter Biden. Democrats are gearing up to counter what the Reps will do. They might want to do their own dog-and-pony shows about such things as how much wealthier Ivanka and Jared became during their tenure in the White House. Under the cloak of his previous diplomatic efforts Jared Kushner has continued to work at parlaying his Middle East Trump connections into even more money.
A handful of Republican politicians has criticized the Nazi and racist slant, but except for Mike Pence they have avoided mentioning Trump, who is the leader of West, Jordan, Greene, Boebert, Gosar, Gaetz, etc. The evil filters down to the local level. Note the craziness of the Republican chairman in the City of Tonawanda, whose social media posts would make Trump proud. The question is, do such things make other Republicans proud too? The condemnation of that local party leader among Republicans has been non-existent.
When a party turns itself over to Kanye.Elon.Trump it tells the world that it stands for no good. While preaching Christianity, it takes glee out of making lives difficult for many people.
Stay tuned for all the excitement in 2023.
Twitter @kenkruly
