House Republicans are doing nothing to benefit the nation or the voters, but they are succeeding on a high level in at least one area: disarray. In fact, make it two areas: pure helplessness and intense nastiness.
The big talk among Republicans these days is to impeach President Joe Biden, with a split between the people who want to impeach now without even claiming to have investigated and gathered impeachment-worthy evidence against him, and the people who want to do so after a series of show trials designed to insert unsubstantiated allegations into the public consciousness. Then there are the so-called ‘moderates’, who will complain to the press about the appalling position they’re placed in, then line up when it’s time to vote on what hardliners got President Kevin McCarthy supports.
All of these groups share their feelings with the press. The biggest splash this week was made by reports that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called out her former ally Rep. Lauren Boebert a female dog” as the two contests whose impeachment resolution will get the most attention and fundraising leverage. But it’s just a moment of hostility in a party with a lot of them.
Greene says Boebert “copied my articles on impeachment and probably did it, it seems to me, because there is a fundraising deadline at the end of the month”, and that she will soon force a vote on his own impeachment resolution. When she does, don’t doubt she’ll be raising money through it — in fact, Boebert sucking up the fundraising juice Greene is planning is no small part of the rage here.
Greene, however, risks to be purged of the far-right House Freedom Caucus on his closeness to McCarthy, which is seen as compromising his far-right purity. For her part, Greene says she’s just “more realistic” in her tactics.
Greene’s “more realistic” tactics will always put Republicans in Biden’s district on the spot, and they are unhappy with how often this has happened recently.
‘I’m worried’ about having to vote on impeachment of Biden, rep Tony Gonzales told CNN. “A witch hunt for another witch hunt makes this place a witch hunt. Meanwhile, the American public is focused on putting food on the table, keeping their children safe in schools, to keep inflation low. Real problems. That’s a nice speech, but since Gonzales participated in the party line votes on sending Boebert’s impeachment resolution to two committees and on Rep. Adam Schiff’s censure, it should be classified as just speech until he actually votes against a Republican witch hunt.
And Gonzales is going to face it again and again. Whether it’s Greene and Boebert with their separate efforts to force an impeachment vote, or committee chairs like Jim Jordan and James Comer taking a little longer to put on a fig leaf of “investigation” and “evidence.” fraudulent over their possible impeachment efforts, House Republicans aren’t letting that go. Given their failure to show how they would productively govern the United States by passing meaningful legislation — even if it died in the Senate — the attacks on the president, the president’s son, and senior administration officials are everything. what they have to convince their base that they have done something with two years at the helm of the House.
Extremism is a powerful drug. And these people are so awful that infighting was probably inevitable when the Republicans took power. It’s a virtuous cycle (from the Democrats’ point of view): Republican disarray breeds failure breeds more disarray.
So-called moderates like Gonzales would try to get McCarthy to stop caving in to the Freedom Caucus, but caving in to hardliners is what McCarthy does, especially given the deal he made to become president in the 15th vote. gave any member the ability to request a vote to replace them. McCarthy spends as much time trying to save his own skin as he tries to lead his party. Not that McCarthy’s party is in the lead, even under someone far more adept than him.
Take Rep. Matt Gaetz, resembling Republican Party id. Using preferred resolutions to force votes on things like impeachment, as Boebert did, “is actually going to be a new doctrine for us,” he told CNN.
“I kind of had enough wrestling sessions,” he said. “I’m ready for action, action, action.”
If this action involves Greene and Boebert trading insults, with Greene facing expulsion from the Freedom Caucus, McCarthy being eternally under pressure, and every Republican who represents a district that voted for Biden having to vote unpopular after vote unpopular, I’m here for that.
Republished with permission from Daily Kos.