Room for Gaetz and Greene
On Friday Republicans in the Senate torpedoed an effort to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the deadly insurrection by Donald Trump’s supporters at the US Capitol on 6 January, deploying the procedural move known as the filibuster to stop it even being debated.
The filibuster is bad and stupid and needs to go away.
Tellingly Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, who previously condemned Trump’s role in the riot, reportedly asked senators to nix the commission as a “personal favour”. It was a sign that the rot now goes deeper than a cult of personality into the foundations of the Grand Old Party (GOP).
A personal favor ffs. This isn’t his living room we’re talking about, it’s the federal government. He has no business making it “personal.”
It is a party that still has room for Matt Gaetz, a Florida congressman under investigation over sex trafficking allegations, who this week appeared to incite supporters to take up arms. “We have a second amendment in this country, and I think we have an obligation to use it,” he said.
You can’t “use” the second amendment as if it were a flashlight or a trowel. It governs law-making; “we” as in the people at large have no opportunity to “use” it. But of course it’s code for saying he thinks Republicans should start shooting their perceived enemies.
One of America’s two major parties now falls outside the democratic mainstream – think “far right” in European terms. But are Democrats taking the existential threat sufficiently seriously or sleepwalking towards disaster in the next election cycle?
The second, from what I can see.
Fred Wellman, a military veteran who is executive director of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, tweeted: “We need to fight for our Republic. I don’t understand at all what the Democratic leadership is thinking. Stop fucking around. Stop letting McConnell walk all over you. For God’s sake act like you are the majority. We are all out here fighting. Where are you?”
Letting McConnell walk all over them.
If the Republicans have destroyed any chance of a bipartisan investigation, does that mean that the Democrats will hold one without them?
The Democrats could hold an investigation without any Republican participation, but it would be portrayed as a partisan political boondoggle and the conclusions belittled. The same would be true of even a bipartisan investigation, but it would be less believable if there were republicans signed on. I guess that the Dems might go ahead and hold one anyway–they might as well. Something needs to be done, and it’s clear that the GOP is not going to do it.
James Garnett, sort of like all the Republican investigations into Whitewater? Not to mention other things…some of which might have had legs, but they focused so much on “getting” Clinton that they made fools of themselves.
And then Benghazi…emails…etc
The Republicans can investigate anything; the Democrats are not allowed to investigate anything. Riot at the Capitol? Calls to hang the VP? Attempts to kill elected representatives of the people? Actual deaths of actual people? Pshaw. Just high school high jinks. “Stop the Steal!” “Lock her up!”
They have about as much critical thinking ability as TRAs…MTG may have even less.
I saw a survey which reported that 73% of republican voters think that left wing extremists carried out the capitol invasion.
How do you have a ‘bipartisan’ investigation when one party is facing indictment? I don’t recall the Gambino Family participating in the prosecution of John Gotti.