Dec.20

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

The Beginning of the Bloodbath?

One of the main political legacies of Donald Trump is the absolute gutting of Ronald Reagan's Eleventh Commandment of Republican Politics: "Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican." There are tensions in the Democratic coalition, of course—Hillary vs. Bernie, and all that—but they are nothing like the tensions in the Republican coalition. Many Republican members of Congress, particularly in the House, not only loathe Democrats, they loathe any Republicans they deem to be insufficiently committed to "The Cause" (whatever "The Cause" might be). Indeed, sometimes it seems that some Republicans hate their fellow Republicans even more than they hate the Democrats.

This is not a great recipe for governance, and yesterday—weeks before the Republicans actually gain power in the House—multiple sets of tensions boiled to the surface. To wit:

• Lauren Boebert vs. Kevin McCarthy: Lauren Boebert was appearing at one of the approximately 10 million conferences that Republicans seem to stage each year, and said she would not support Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House unless he agrees to reinstate the rule wherein any member can call for a vote for his removal. This is not exactly a full-frontal assault, but it does suggest that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was telling the truth when he said there were more than just five members who had concerns about McCarthy as speaker. And if so, that would, of course, mark the first time that Matt Gaetz ever told the truth.
  
  
• Lauren Boebert vs. Marjorie Taylor Greene: At that same conference, Boebert was asked about Marjorie Taylor Greene's support for McCarthy; the Georgian has said that McCarthy will make a "great speaker." Boebert replied: "I've been aligned with Marjorie and accused of believing a lot of the things that she believes in. I don't believe in this, just like I don't believe in Russian space lasers, Jewish space lasers, and all of this." Clearly Boebert has noticed that she came within a whisker of losing her reelection bid, and needs to distance herself from the kook caucus (Crazy kook caucus? Krazy kook kaucus?), at least a little bit.
  
  Greene took that as something of a personal attack, which it was, and responded on Twitter:

  I've supported and donated to Lauren Boebert. President Trump has supported and donated to Lauren Boebert. Kevin McCarthy has supported and donated to Lauren Boebert. She just barely came through by 500 votes.
  
  She gladly takes our $$$ but when she's been asked:
  
  Lauren refuses to endorse President Trump, she refuses to support Kevin McCarthy, and she childishly threw me under the bus for a cheap sound bite.
  
  The country is facing extremely difficult times. Americans expect conservative fighters like us to work together to Save America and that is the only mission I'm 100% devoted to, not high school drama and media sound bites.

  Marjorie Taylor Greene has no interest in drama and media sound bites? Really? Hmmmm....
  
  
• Bill Thomas vs. Kevin McCarthy: You probably don't know the name Bill Thomas, since he is not currently a member of Congress. The California Republican served in the House from 1979 to 2007, during which time his protégé was Kevin McCarthy. That was then, however, and these days, Thomas regards Anakin... er, Kevin as having gone over to the dark side. The former representative just gave a blistering interview to New Yorker magazine. Said Thomas: "The Kevin McCarthy who is now, at this time, in the House isn't the Kevin McCarthy I worked with. At least from outward appearances. You never know what's inside, really. Kevin basically is whatever you want him to be. He lies. He'll change the lie if necessary. How can anyone trust his word?"
  
  
• Ronna Romney McDaniel vs. Harmeet Dhillon: Nobody regards the MyPillow Guy as a serious contender for chair of the RNC, despite his having thrown his hat into the ring. Trump lawyer and RNC committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon is another matter, however. And now, a week after Dhillon jumped in, McDaniel's reelection bid is in some trouble, as she's under attack from more Trumpy members of the RNC. Yes, she's kowtowed to him at every turn, but someone has to take the blame for three bad elections in a row, and the Trumpists certainly aren't going to blame Trump.
  
  At the moment, it looks like McDaniel still has the support needed to win another term. But it's close, and she's got to hold on until the next RNC meeting on January 27. Maybe she can do it, and maybe she can't.

Maybe what we are seeing right now is a giant game of musical chairs, and once everyone on the Republican side has figured out what seat they will be occupying, this will all calm down. We are inclined to doubt it, however. The House Republican Conference could barely hold itself together when it was in the minority, and had no real power. Now, they're going to be running the show, with actual influence over the national agenda. Our guess is that yesterday was just a preview, and that the red team is going to spend the next 2 years eating itself alive. (Z)