Following rules and procedures is essential to govern

I wrote a variation of the following as an accent comment to my last post called “No authorization.” I repeat it as I want to emphasize that following rules and procedures is essential in governance.

As an old fart, I have observed when politicians do NOT follow procedures, take it to the bank, it is political. Thanks to Senator Mitch McConnell, we did not interview an excellent SCOTUS nominee as he made up his own rule about not interviewing a nominee in an election year, and we ended up the following year with a lesser quality SCOTUS associate justice. I don’t want politics on SCOTUS – I want competence. It is not like his Senate was too busy to meet with him.

So, Donald Trump’s not following procedures is not unusual nor is it NOT apolitical. What the Republicans in Congress who are scared of Trump have failed to realize, adhering to rules and processes is a way to govern and temper the incumbent president. They could protect themselves from criticism especially from the vindictive incumbent president. Sadly, the Speaker of the House is one of the biggest Trump toadies around, so he is more inclined to grease the skids for Trump than follow rules.

Going back to McConnell, he had a chance to save America from Trump and he failed us. In his second impeachment trial in the Senate (yes the House impeached him twice), the vote to convict Trump was 57 to 43, including seven Republicans. If McConnell had pushed for it, he could have gotten the needed ten more votes to get a 2/3 vote for conviction. He could have told MAGA fans, my hands are tied, Trump is guilty of seditious actions against our country.

As a result, not only did he get reelected, he pardoned over 1,000 insurrectionists who either pled guilty or were found guilty.

Petty, childish and mean-spirited, but not governance

With a government shutdown looming which will be both disruptive and harmful, the House of Representatives under Republican leadership decided to focus on cutting the pay of the Secretary of Transporation to $1. Really? This is where you want to spend your time?

This petty, mean-spirited and childish act is a page right out of the petulant acting former president’s playbook when he had a public servant fired the DAY the person was set to retire to deny the person a pension. Why would the so-called leader of the most powerful nation in the world stoop so low as to fire someone on his last day to deny him his pension? Because he dared say something bad about Trump two years before when his wife ran for public office.

This is sadly a true story. It is a small in scope story but is entirely representative of the kind of person the former president is. His MAGA fans need to know this is how sad, petty and childish this adult person acts and how he treats the common man.

Trump’s sycophants in the Republican Party with names like Taylor-Greene, Jordan, Gaetz, Johnson, McCarthy and DeSantis are following suit. Denigrating, bullying, lying and stepping on people who disagree with you is not statesmanship, is not in keeping with Jesus’ Golden Rule, and is certainly not how most mothers want us to act.

Please feel free to copy and post this. It is written by an independent and former member of both parties who detests when people are disenfranchised by their elected officials. We deserve better than these petty and mean-spirited actions. If these folks cannot treat people with respect and do our business, they need to resign full stop or not run for office. We citizens are pleading for governance not pettiness.*
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*Note: I have left messages for the Speaker, the temporary Speaker and one other NC Republican representative, as well as my Democrat representative sharing the above message playing it against the bipartisan Fiscal Stability Act passed in the Senate to set up a commission to deal with the debt and deficit issues. I also reached out to my Republican Senator thanking him for his efforts on this.