GOP Implosion: Directly Tied to MAGA Rejecting Democracy
This article certainly doesn’t require a long analysis, and it won’t get one here (Link for Substack Format). From the Washington Post, we have the key stat even though it’s completely backasswards as I’ll explain:
Of the 18 deniers, 14 are returning members who voted against certification of the electoral college count on Jan. 6, 2021. In addition, four election-denying newcomers either expressed support for that vote, embraced partisan post-election audits, or promoted false claims of 2020 election fraud.
So, eighteen of the twenty (As of this writing) are currently holding up pushing forward against Kevin McCarthy, the overwhelming consensus. These are some of the same people who utterly rejected the 2020 election. (Admittedly, some of McCarthy’s voters also rejected the 2020 election). These aren’t people who said that they believe there was a fraud, but Biden won. These are people who said that Trump won and Democrats flat stole it by dumping ballots.
Unrelated? Dictated by sheer numbers? Unimportant? Not a chance. It is indicative, symptomatic, and disastrous, even from the Democratic point of view.
This isn’t supposed to be the way this country works. The only way modern classic western liberalism can work is through compromise that best results in the will of the people. Canada, the U.K., and France., all have far-right movements, and none are flawless examples of democratic ideals. But none of these examples (And I can go on, South Korea, Japan, Sweden…) have essentially ceased to function as a nation-state the way we have over the last 20 years and especially the last six. The only way the United States “moves” in one direction or another is through unilateral action taken by the president under his/her authority or… by the SCOTUS. Congress is MIA.
It has all come to a head this week.
A small group has decided that they can force the government, in this case, the House, to bend to its will. It can hold the whole process hostage and fck the 90%. The fact that they’ll likely come to a compromise on a third-party candidate isn’t the issue. The issue is that a tiny minority forced the will of a small, self-important group over 90% of their party. It sounds autocratic. And that’s not by accident. It’s because this has become their modus operandi, the new way of doing business in this place—government by a minority.
Andy Biggs being a big obstacle.
The really weird thing? Trump himself, the anti-Democracy, autocrat’s autocrat, wants the “centrist” majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, to get the Speakership. This, despite the fact that some of the biggest Trumpers out there. Gosar, Boebert, Gaetz, Biggs, these are people who would carry Trump into the White House, are opposed to McCarthy.
So how did it get this way? Or, as James Joyce might have put it, WTAF!
The twenty see McCarthy as too centrist. Trump may normally agree. Except Trump has Kevin McCarthy’s balls hidden in a jar in a storage shed near the pool at Mar-a-Lago. The FBI is kicking itself for not listing that jar in the search warrant, or they would have a House referral to DOJ, too. So Trump wants McCarthy as Speaker for the sole reason that it would essentially make Trump speaker.
Last, perhaps it takes a dual-citizen (Canadian-American) to remember that this is not only being watched within the United States. No, every intelligence community on Earth is watching this closely. Every president, citizen, and damn sure every corporation has a wary eye on us. Their faith in American democracy was waning twenty years ago, at a minimum. The vote in 2020 helped wipe some brows but didn’t help cement the type of stability that they wanted to see from the world’s most dangerous military. (I am not saying this military is going to turn on itself. But if we’re not stable, we’re not stable, and that scares the business world and the First World.)
There are many other countries that provide a wonderful example of democracy in action and all its advantages. Some are listed above. But none of those countries had the history, the soft power, or the ability to evoke the dream of a better life than when people heard the word “America.” This implosion (not just this House failure but the many failures, especially the insurrection) will have an impact on people in Brazil, India, and even Uganda, countries with emerging democracies. What do our troubles do to that dream? Tell them to look at Germany? Norway? Insist it can work? Maybe. But again, “America,” the shining city on the hill.
The Republicans’ inability to govern themselves was funny on the first day. It began to become concerning today. And what becometh of tomorrow? It doesn’t look good. When they get a Speaker, whoever it is, will be so weak that chaos can erupt at any point in the term.
Do the Democrats once again have to step in and save the GOP from itself? Perhaps Democrats throw their weight behind someone they think they can live with. But only after exacting some kind of a deal? A deal where certain legislation must come to a vote? Tough to tell.
Night seems to be falling on a working democracy in the United States. Of course, that’s been true for twenty years.
I can always be reached at jmiciak@yahoo.com.
And Pledge Button are ON: Please throw in $8. Next month we might start an AMA (Ask me anything), except people who use that title seem so presumptuous and arrogant that I would have an (AMAWCTAAYTMWYTT) “Ask me anything we can talk about and you tell me what you think, too.” And reserve two a week for pledged members. Contact me in the comments below in Substack link.
BEACH TIME: