GOP's Inability To Govern Is A Double-Edged Sword
We all knew that the combination of a Republican-controlled Congress and a Trump presidency would be awful and, for some, probably deadly. But I don’t think any of us had any idea that the GOP would simply drop all pretense of caring about anything other than themselves, the top 1%, and their corporate donors. They just don’t give a damn about the rest of us anymore and they’re not afraid to say it and show it.
Perhaps it is the Trump effect where a presidential candidate could just brazenly lie almost every day throughout the campaign and still get elected. Perhaps it is the recognition that total control of Congress and the White House gives them the hubris to say and do what they want. Or perhaps it is the recognition that extreme partisan gerrymandering will get them re-elected even if they, as Trump claimed, shot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue.
The multiple and continual attempts at repealing Obamacare actually got worse as each new proposal rolled out, with the final Graham-Cassidy bill effectively denying 30 million Americans health care. All of the proposals had the one feature of gutting Medicaid, which is primarily designed to serve the least among us, low-income people, those with disabilities, the elderly, children, and pregnant women. All of this effort was solely to be able to pass an even more massive tax cut for the top 1% and the Republicans’ business cronies.
The lies about health care were also continual – more people would be covered, pre-existing conditions would still be covered, states would fill the Medicaid gap despite having billions less money. And the lies continue with this latest tax cut proposal – it’s a middle class tax cut, the rich will pay more in taxes, the tax cuts will pay for themselves and more, repealing the estate tax helps family farmers. And that’s not even mentioning the thousands of other lies, from the petty, like the inauguration crowd, to the more serious, like the number and depth of Russian contacts or the reasons for firing Comey.
Of course politicians have and will always shade the truth. But the GOP has entered a new sphere where the lies are so provably and evidently false but still get trotted out as matters of faith and fact. As I have written before, that in itself is a statement of power – the power to “create” the truth when everyone can see it’s false.
But the lies are also interspersed with occasional and brutal honesty about what Republicans really think. They simply don’t believe we can afford or should even offer healthcare for everyone, despite being the only major industrialized country that doesn’t. “The poor will always be with us…There is a group of people that just don’t want health care and aren’t going to take care of themselves.” When it comes to unfunded tax cuts, the deficit is “a great talking point when you have an administration that’s Democrat-led. It’s a little different now that Republicans have both houses and the administration.”
The enormous hubris is also there, from Trump’s abuse of the Emoluments Clause and use of his office for personal enrichment to the excesses of virtually his entire cabinet, with their penchant for taxpayer-funded private jet travel as its latest manifestation. Perhaps this is best encapsulated by Ryan Zinke’s statement that his use of private planes at taxpayer expense was just “a little BS” and, to take him totally out of context while still quoting his spirit correctly, “I am above the law.”
While primarily limited to Trump, the overt racism, which has always been at the edge of an auditory dog whistle, is also out in the open. The reaction to Charlottesville, the treatment of immigrants, and now the implication that Puerto Rico is too lazy to recover when their island and 20% of its economy has been wiped out are all clear indications of that.
I could go on for hours with hundred of examples of all of the above. What is abundantly clear is that the Republican party is unable to govern and the President is unable to lead. Bret Stephens blames that on the years of fomenting rage in the base, saying, “Anger is an excellent emotion for pushing ratings and winning elections and a terrible one for agreeing to compromises and crafting legislation”. Josh Marshall blames it on the “‘nonsense debt’. Republicans had spent years pumping their voters up on increasingly extreme and nonsensical claims and promises. This worked very well for winning elections.” It does not work when you have to follow through on the nonsense.
While the inability to govern may save millions from losing health care, it could cost the lives of thousands in Puerto Rico and, potentially, millions more in South Korea. It is a double-edged sword. But as the failures keep mounting, the response from both Trump and the GOP will be to foment even more anger and resentment, tell even greater lies, and become even more dismissive of the Americans who don’t vote for them. To admit the con is to commit political suicide. Someday, hopefully sooner rather than later, the anger and lies will be overshadowed by failures and will no longer be a viable strategy for Republicans to keep winning elections.
