Regulars here in the shebeen know that I have used an obscure Little Feat track as my lodestar in my journey through the dark realms of 21st-Century Republicanism. You can cast almost any Republican member of Congress as Luke The Rat, who convinces the loyal captains to throw the loyal sailors overboard. The song is rising to a crescendo these days. From CNN:
As the 118th Congress has been dominated by deep dysfunction and bitter divisions inside the GOP, a number of Republicans – particularly from the so-called governing wing – are heading for the exits. So far, 23 GOP lawmakers have decided to not seek reelection or resigned early, including five committee chairs, though some have cited personal reasons or are seeking higher office. Still, the caliber and timing of some of the retirements has raised alarm bells, particularly those who are giving up coveted committee gavels that some work their whole career to achieve.
Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington is not even term-limited yet in her plum post, while China select committee Chair Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, a 39-year-old who was once seen as the future of the party, recently announced he was leaving Congress after facing intense blowback for voting against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Personally, I think this is pretty damned cowardly. These people represent the internal Republican resistance to Trumpism. They are the counterweight to the Greene-Gaetz threshing machine. (As Wilson Pickett warned us, don't let the Greene-Gaetz fool you.) The odds that many of them will be replaced by members of the MAGA hordes are pretty solid. That will do nobody any good.
Meanwhile, over in the Senate, things aren't a whole lot better. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is losing his mojo under assault from his younger, dumber colleagues. (The Texas Tribune reports that some people, especially himself, are touting Tailgunner Ted Cruz as McConnell's replacement. Great plan. Choose as your leader the guy who is less popular than mange in the cloakroom.) It is obvious that McConnell has lost a step, and that he planned to lead a Republican Senate majority as his farewell to screwing up the federal judiciary for the next two decades. But handing the Republican caucus in the Senate over to House manques like Josh (Golden Wheels) Hawley, or Tom Cotton, the bobble-throated slapdick who allegedly from Arkansas, will do nobody any good.
“They’ve signed up to do serious things. And we’re not doing serious things,” said Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, a conservative who is retiring after bucking his party on several key issues. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a moderate who represents a key swing seat, pointed to his party’s struggle to govern as driving the departures. “When you’re divided in your own conference, the joy of the job is harder,” Bacon told CNN. “When you have folks on your own team with their knives out, it makes it less enjoyable.”
And Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida, an ally of deposed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, said this is not how he or many of his colleagues imagined life in the majority, saying, “I thought that some of our members would be smarter.”
Of course, most of the "serious things" to which Rep. Bacon refers are seriously unpopular. and I can't figure out why Rep. Gimenez would think that of his colleagues. The House Republicans haven't valued smarts since Newt Gingrich rose to be Speaker. Did Gimenez think Greene or Gaetz would get smarter? Jim Comer? Jim Jordan, for pity's sake? And all the "smarter" people are beating feet out of town like the repo man is after their shoes. Republicans are a cult these days, and nobody's waiting for the comet.
Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.
