Monday morning you sure look fine…just avoid the lunatic fringe

With another shout out to Fleetwood Mac, let’s start the week with one of their lyrics. If you are a fan, you know the next line is “but Friday I got travelin’ on my mind.” So, until then, we can just look fine.

Speaking of fine, if the former president wants to testify, please, oh please let him. That would be more than fine. When an untruthful person gets on the witness stand, two things happen – perjury risk goes up and changing answers increase. I have shared before, an attorney got the former president to change 30 answers to avoid perjuring himself in one sworn deposition.

Speaking of fine, I keep reading how even MAGA fans are getting tired of the antics of some of the elected “lunatic fringe” in their party. At some point, these folks wear out their welcome even with other more strident folks. I hate using labels, but to me the lunatic fringe represents the negative tail of a statistical distribution. In a normal distribution, the negative tail could be 2 1/2% of the group using two standard deviations.

In the context I am referencing, the Republican Party is not a normal distribution as the former president has pulled more negativity into the mix making his views more mainstream, So, the lunatic fringe is a little larger. Democrats have their fringe as well, but I do not see it as large as the Republican one.

“Lunatic fringe” is also a cool song from Red Rider. Just a few lyrics will reveal how prescient this song is:

“Lunatic fringe
In the twilight’s last gleaming
This is open season
But you won’t get too far

‘Cause you’ve got to blame someone
For your own confusion
We’re on guard this time (on guard this time)
Against your final solution
Oh no.”

So, we must be on guard. Push back on people who are espousing nonsense. We know their names. And, we should also push back on those who believe the BS these folks are espousing. We won’t really be fine until we do.

Tick, tick, tick…one more Republican Congressperson resigns

An article called “Republican House majority to shrink as Mike Gallagher steps down” by Martin Pengelly in The Guardian tells a continuing saga. The subtitle adds some flavor –  “Congressman once considered a rising Republican star to leave in April, further weakening party’s slim majority.” A few initial paragraphs paint enough of the picture.

“The Republican majority in the US House of Representatives is set to dwindle further with the early exit of Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, once a rising star of the party. A former US Marine who twice deployed to Iraq, Gallagher, 40, is a relatively moderate voice in party at the mercy of the far right.

He had already announced his decision to retire but in a statement on Friday he said: ‘After conversations with my family, I have made the decision to resign my position … effective 19 April. I’ve worked closely with House Republican leadership on this timeline.’

The announcement came shortly after Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, an extremist even in a party held hostage by its far right, responded to the passage of a Democrat-backed funding bill by filing a motion to remove Mike Johnson, the speaker from Louisiana.

Allies said Gallagher was pushed to the exit by such behaviour, according to Politico, particularly the right’s ejection of Johnson’s predecessor as speaker, Kevin McCarthy, last October.

Friday was also the last day in Congress for Ken Buck of Colorado, a rightwinger nonetheless disillusioned by intra-party chaos who also chose to bring forward his intended retirement.”

Tick, tick, tick. As the clock pendulum swings turning its hands, a slow exodus of Republicans continues. The main cause is the inmates are running the asylum. After Kevin McCarthy ceded power to the more strident Freedom Caucus to become Speaker, he sealed the fate on his eventual departure. Now, Mike Johnson may face the same fate.

The Freedom Caucus has been a thorn in the side of more than a couple of Republican Speakers. Their difficulty may have contributed to the retirement of Speaker John Boehner and departure of Speaker Paul Ryan who were more effective speakers than Messers. McCarthy and Johnson. Boehner made more than one reference to herding cats and, on more important votes, went across the aisle for support.

Collaboration has become a dirty word, especially with the strident members of the party, many of whom are in the Freedom Caucus. Yet, their numbers have grown, which is sad. On John Oliver’s “Last week tonight” show this past Sunday, he noted the House Republicans canceled an offsite team building exercise when only 100 of the 218 members said they would attend.

Tick, tick, tick. Whether one sides with the strident or moderate sides of the party, one thing is for certain, you can’t govern if you are not there. And, as an increasing number of Republicans depart, fewer are there.

“Unmitigated disaster” says House Republican

In a piece by Kierra Frazier in Politico called “Republicans knock House GOP leadership after 2 failed votes” the ongoing dysfunction continues to rear its ugly head. The subtitle tells more: “Getting rid of Speaker McCarthy has officially turned into an unmitigated disaster,” Rep. Thomas Massie said. The first two paragraphs capture the gist:

“Some Republicans aren’t happy with House leadership after the lower chamber failed to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and failed to pass a clean $17.6 billion Israel aid bill all in one day.

‘Getting rid of Speaker McCarthy has officially turned into an unmitigated disaster,’ Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said on X. ‘All work on separate spending bills has ceased. Spending reductions have been traded for spending increases. Warrantless spying has been temporarily extended. Our majority has shrunk.’”

The dysfunction was stepped up after it took fifteen votes to settle on Kevin McCarthy as Speaker. McCarthy made obvious poor concessions with the strident Freedon Caucus that predictably led to his demise. Then after several weeks of false starts on “who should be the next Speaker?” they settled on another questionable Speaker in Mike Johnson after considering an even worse candidate in Jim Jordan. Johnson will likely end up with the same fate as he must deal with a caucus who truly is more interested in grandstanding than governing. This has been the case for over ten years and drove John Boehner to retire.

The military has a term that they use to define incompetent leadership. It begins with the word “cluster” and ends with a sexual term. To be brutally honest, this term aptly defines not just the House Republicans, but Senate Republicans as well. The latter used to be more above the fray, but just this week the party defeated its own bill, so says the Wall Street Journal editorial board. Why? Because the GOP frontrunner said so, as passing it would make Joe Biden look good.

Please re-read the previous sentence. Rather than pass a bill to help with arguably the #1 issue in party campaigns, the Senate Republicans caved to pressures from the narcissistic bent former president as he preferred to leave the issue unresolved. He did the same thing when a bipartisan agreement gave him $25 billion in wall funding for making DACA into law. He reneged on a morning agreement later that day as it was better politically to not resolve his #1 issue. Do you spot a trend?

Democrats are not perfect and embellish as well. But, I argue policy emphasis with them, while arguing the truth with Republicans. When lying is a mainstream party value, that truly is that “cluster” word. If Republicans push back on the lying value statement, my response is you are what you do and right now to be a Republican means you must support lies and liars, while vilifying truth tellers.

Thursday throw abouts – let’s count them

Greetings on a chilly Thursday morning. It is a good day for a walk in the forest, so here are a few throw about topics to toss around in my head as I stroll.

Whether people like former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she could count votes. This sounds so simple, but she rarely held a vote where she did not know the outcome beforehand. Apparently that arithmetic skill seems to be lacking in Messers. McCarthy and Jordan.

On a very related subject, the extreme thinking Freedom Caucus has long been a group that likes to blow things up. Yet, what Messer. Gaetz failed to realize is when you blow something up, you need a well planned next step. Gaetz is receiving a lot of well-deserved push back by his fellow Republicans.

Former Republican Speaker John Boehner had the same problem with the Freedom Caucus and often worked with center left and right legislators to get important things passed. The challenge to herd cats eventually wore out Boehner who retired before his term ended. Ironically, he retired shortly after visiting with the Pope who had come to America – maybe he was looking for a miracle cure.

I mention these two former Speakers – Pelosi and Boehner – as they are arguably the best two speakers of this century. I had specific issues with both of them, but they at least got things done. It begins with simple arithmetic and a simple question. Do we have the votes?

Florida US House Republicans are not too thrilled with Mr. Gaetz

I have shared on several occasions that Kevin McCarthy earned the right to be ousted as US speaker. He also greased the skids back in January making a deal with the unruly Freedom Caucus after a dozen plus failed attempts to be speaker. While historic, this is not a surprise given the nature of the deal makers.

While it was good that he finally sided with the Democrats to keep the government open, largely his untrustworthiness and lack of leadership over time came home to roost. Yet, the Freedom Caucus spokesman who led his demise, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, is no day at the beach either, nor are other key members like Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

But, don’t take my word for it. Every other Florida Republican in the House voted against Gaetz’ push to remove McCarthy. Here is what they said per an article in Politico called “‘He’s about clicks’: Florida Republicans furious at Gaetz,” by Kimberly Leonard and Mia McCarthy.

“They called Gaetz divisive. Disrespectful. Selfish. No other Florida Republican voted to oust McCarthy. Florida’s GOP delegation see Gaetz as carrying out a personal vendetta, accusing him of an overzealous bid for attention and of trying to position himself to become the state’s future governor.

‘Gaetz has very few friends in the conference,’ Rep. Carlos Gimenez said. ‘Gaetz maybe has a couple of friends in the delegation. But I’m not one of them.’

As a sign of how unpopular Gaetz’ move to unseat McCarthy was, hours before yesterday’s vote, the GOP conference blocked microphones on the Republican side of the chamber, forcing Gaetz to debate from the Democratic side.

But Gaetz was never known as a people-pleaser. The son of a prominent and wealthy former Florida Senate leader, Gaetz made headlines as a young Florida House member when he defended the state’s ‘stand your ground’ law in 2013. He was first elected to the U.S. House in 2016 and, among other things, survived a federal sex trafficking probe.“

Gaetz and the Freedom Caucus are a match. The Freedom Caucus has long been a thorn in the side of the Republican Party, preferring to blow things up than govern. Speaker John Boehner often had to work with Democrats to get something done, as herding the Freedom Caucus cats proved frustrating. They also like to grandstand which is ideal for Gaetz who does as well. The Florida Republicans, as noted above, agree.

Shutdown Republicans are ‘stuck on stupid’ says GOP moderate representative

In an article in The Guardian today by Martin Pengelly called “Republicans pushing for government shutdown ‘stuck on stupid’, says party moderate” the extreme members of the party are criticized. The subtitle adds color –
“Mike Lawler, New York Republican, says ‘colleagues refuse to do what we were elected to do’ as shutdown looms.”

Here are a few paragraphs that summarize his statements:

“Republicans pushing for a federal government shutdown are ‘stuck on stupid’, a party moderate said shortly before one rightwinger reported that the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, would not hold a vote on a bipartisan Senate plan advanced as a way to keep the government open.

‘The American people elected a House Republican majority to serve as a check and balance and be able to govern,’ Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York, a heavily Democratic state, told CNN.

‘Some of my colleagues have, frankly, been stuck on stupid and refused to do what we were elected to do, against the vast majority of the conference, who have been working to avoid a shutdown.’

If no agreement to continue funding the government is reached by midnight on Saturday, many federal functions will cease. Employees can expect to be furloughed and the public left without key services.

Past shutdowns – most recently in 2013, 2018 and 2019 – have been stoked by Republican hardliners in Congress but have not paid off politically. The most recent closure was prompted by Donald Trump, then president, over immigration policy. The Congressional Budget Office put the cost of the 35-day shutdown at about $18bn and said $3bn was wiped off US GDP.“

This is not a Democrat or Independent making these statements. This is yet one more moderate Republican calling Republican extremists on the carpet, including the former president who plays yet another heavy hand to garner benefit by harming people.

Please call your representatives and encourage them to act. That is why they are there. To help us, not some illicit acting former president.

Lying to cover lies does not make a positive

In mathematics, two negatives when multiplied make a positive. In life, it seldom works that way.

I read that with son Lachlan taking over for Rupert Murdoch at Fox News would allow for a reset with Donald Trump. That is the exact opposite of what this propaganda network needs. They have settled two defamation cases, with two pending by gas lighting their viewers for the former president. And, two large shareholders have sued Fox News for causing the defamation. When will they ever learn? When you lie to support other lies, those two negatives do not make a positive.

The extreme members of the Republican Freedom Caucus are well known now, but not in a positive way. Names like Gaetz, Jordan, Taylor Greene et al will not be remembered well in history. People who treat others negatively and then lie on top of it do not make a positive. The word “freedom” is a misnomer here unless it is referring to freedom from rational discourse.

The governor of Florida is falling fast in his campaign to be the Republican presidential nominee. It is so bad, it is affecting his role as governor in the eyes of Floridians. What Ron DeSantis fails to understand is acting like a bully and lying at the same time does not make a positive message. Floridians failed to realize this is how he conducted himself as a US Congressman, not unlike how the former president acted long before running for office. They both got voted in.

The former president may be one of the most negative influences ever to serve in the US. He was voted the 4th worst US president in history by 142 historians, but that tells only part of his story. He has divided us further and betrayed our country by lying to save face. Yet, lying more to cover a lie that he supposedly won an election he lost does not make a positive. It just makes a sad equation by a sad actor.

For those who still support these negative factors in these mathematic equations, they need to find a new math book.