I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
This is the oath taken by Senators and Member of Congress, those we elect to represent us — to be leaders of our great country in thought and deed. As former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin recently said, “I think leaders should endeavor to be honest, ethical, moral people who try to set standards for themselves and lead by example across the country.” Ryan gave these remarks almost three years after the Capitol riot and nearly five years after he resigned his leadership position to subsequently sit on the Board of Directors overseeing Fox News’ firehose of 2020 stolen election bullshit which, to date, has cost them almost $800 million in civil judgements. How’s that for setting a standard of leadership?
In February 2021 Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said of Donald Trump, “Former President Trump’s actions that preceded the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty. Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day” and that rioters had been “fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth because he was angry he’d lost an election.” This was after McConnell dragged his feet to push the impeachment trial beyond January 20th’s ending of Trump’s term, and then encouraged his Republican caucus to acquit Trump of the impeachment charge against him because he was no longer President. Splendid.
And how could we forget the valiant Kevin McCarthy’s scolding of Donald Trump after the riot (and after his voting to not certify legitimate electoral college ballots) only to default to his “My Kevin” persona a couple of weeks later, securing his uncontested election as House Speaker in early 2023 and the eternal, unfaltering support of Donald Trump from that point forward. Of course, that’s not what happened — it turns out that spasms of almost real leadership (including not shutting the government down) cost him his Speakership, and he has resigned from Congress. Who could possibly have predicted that Donald Trump wouldn’t be loyal to “my Kevin?” Adios Kevin.
I’ll be honest — I have been shockingly surprised over the past eight years or so at the shallowness of character absence of any ethical foundation in the Republican leadership. Granted, any idiot knows politicians aren’t above shading the truth, but we realistically expect there to be something more below the surface — a genuine and fundamental base of honor and ethics and morality and genuine patriotism. We would rightfully expect leaders to see more clearly, to resist more firmly, to sacrifice more readily against threats to the very principles of our unique country. It’s safe to say that every Republican “leader” as Senator or House member represents hundreds of thousands of citizens who did not happen to vote for them. Real leaders recognize their responsibility to all citizens, at a minimum to protect and defend their constitutional rights. Instead, this kind of Republican leadership, pissing on their oath of office and their constituents for Trump, has spawned a collection of clowns, religious zealots and world champion chickenshits. It turns out that failure to lead leads to failure.
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What we have now is a group of spoiled and unserious 7th graders looking like complete idiots to any objective observer — impeach my guy and I’ll impeach your guy. THEY ALL KNOW that Donald Trump lost the election. THEY ALL KNOW they assisted in an attempted coup. THEY ALL KNOW Trump is unfit for virtually any job, much less the U.S. Presidency. These elected “officials” could be acting as genuine leaders, pushing back against misinformation about the 2020 election, refusing the “evil vs good” narrative, rejecting the “Putin is the victim” fairytale — instead, they feed the fires. An incredible 139 Republican Senators and Members of Congress voted to challenge electoral certification AFTER THE RIOT on January 6th, 2021, and current polling suggests many Republican voters don’t really see the attempted insurrection as a problem.
And while the juvenile delinquents running congress are busy demonstrating just how irresponsible the United States of America has become to its own citizens and to the international community, way more than 50% of Republicans are prepared to vote for more chaos. Why? They have no responsible leaders. A January 2024 poll found 64% of Republicans view Trump as “a person of faith” and 54% said “he cares about people like me.” That would be the spoiled 3-year-old who faces felony charges for trying to steal an election he lost, for stealing and hiding and sharing highly classified national security documents, who gets his campaign punch lines from Adolph Hitler, and who offered up his own supporters to suffocate and die alone from a preventable viral disease. Long live the Orange King! And, why not? Aside from a few hundred rioters in prison and a quarter- million extra dead from COVID what are the consequences? He can pardon the prisoners and maybe even raise the dead. What could possibly go wrong?
For the Republican Party, how about the kiss-of-death? Their embrace of Trump as “the chosen” one has surely overturned historical election trends, but the only positive one was winning in 2016 while losing the popular vote. In the 2018 mid-terms Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives, with Democrats claiming a net gain of 41 seats. In 2020 Republicans lost the Presidency with an incumbent candidate (Trump), did not gain control of the House and lost the Senate by losing both seats in Georgia. In the post- Trump elections of 2022, a predicted “Red wave” in the House sputtered, thanks to Trump’s push of extreme candidates around the country. In MAGA attempts to secure election control in swing states Trump’s candidates lost the Governor’s race, the open Senate Seat and gained control of the House in Pennsylvania. In Michigan Democratic incumbents all won, and Democrats took control of both legislative Houses. in Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola beat Sarah Palin. Trump’s favored candidate for Arizona Governor Kari Lake lost, as did Senate MAGA candidate Blake Masters. MAGA candidates for election-controlling Secretary of State lost, including Mark Finchem in Arizona, Kristina Karamo in Michigan and Jim Marchant in Nevada. Kansas voters defeated a referendum on abortion. Two Republican House members who voted to impeach Trump — Peter Meijer and Jamie Herrera Beutler — were ousted in their Republican primaries to MAGA candidates who promptly lost to Democrats in the general election. In off-year 2023 Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear was re-elected, Ohio voters enshrined abortion rights into its constitution, and Democrats took full control of Virginia’s General Assembly.
That is some serious ass whuppin’, yet even before the 2024 Iowa caucuses Republicans are rushing to endorse Trump again. Marco Rubio, who in 2016 said of a Trump candidacy..… The politics of resentment against other people will not just leave us a fractured party, they're going to leave us a fractured nation. They're going to leave us as a nation where people literally hate each other because they have different political opinions." The king sycophant Lindsey Graham said in 2016…. This is not about who we nominate anymore as Republicans as much as it’s who we are. This is a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party. What is conservatism? If it’s Donald Trump carrying the conservative banner I think not only do we lose the election, but we’ll be unable in the future to grow the conservative cause.” They have both been proven correct — they just didn’t, apparently, realize how much they would enjoy the fracture, the hate and losing the heart and soul of their party. Thank you sir, could I have another?
At this point in our history this Republican Party is a joke - a party that historically made extravagant claims to strength and courage is, instead, totally gutless. Unfortunately, the joke isn’t funny. Personally, I can’t imagine how anyone aspiring to these historical positions of national leadership can care so little for their legacy, be so incredibly ambivalent to their own place in history and be so completely blind to the trail of burning garbage their slavish devotion to a criminal simpleton has helped to spread across our land. At some point Republicans who aren’t in on the joke will wake up to the smell. Let’s hope it’s soon.
Excellent blog as always...but it makes me sick to think these political infants really believe they are doing something important for America. And it makes me sicker to understand how many comatose citizens praise them and somehow believe they are on a noble path to a future America...a greatly broken one if the Cult leader regains control.
Terrific article! Reading it felt a little like anger management therapy. Thanks for assembling the facts and history of Trump and the GOP. It boggles the mind - how can so many people be so wrong for so long?