From the "With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?" File

As House Republicans still do their best to push their “impeachment investigation” of President Biden – despite their star witness being arrested for admitting to have lied as an agent of Russia, despite a previous major “witness” disappearing and turning out to be an asset of China, despite even some Republicans in the House spinning away from support, and despite no actual evidence -- I think this will be a major and disastrous problem for them.  But not just this one issue, which in some ways is a poster child of the problems the GOP faces.

The House GOP, in particular, is clearly so out of control that they’ll take information from anywhere – it’s like they’re hooked junkies desperate for any fix.  Already, as I said, they’ve made their “star witnesses” an agent for China and an agent connected to Russian intel.  And worse, rather than acknowledge this for the good of the country, they’re tripling down on it.  The released of the transcript for their long-awaited deposition of Hunter Biden not only turned up zero – but the tables got turned on them repeatedly for not investigating far more substantive “presidential family” issues like Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner getting $2 billion from the Saudis, and Ivanka Trump getting 41 trademarks from China.  This all can only get worse for Republicans.  They’re likely going to keep going on their “impeachment inquiry,” and I have to believe there are at a minimum three members (perhaps even a few dozens) who really, truly don’t want to be tarred by association to Russian disinformation – and risk losing in their purple districts.  So, there are three possibilities: 

1) The inquiry will keep going and going, but eventually be dropped for lack of evidence after all their unrelenting efforts, which will be a disastrous embarrassment for them the longer it goes on.  2) the inquiry will keep going, and be voted down by the House with even some of their own Republican members voting against it, which will be an even bigger disaster for them.  And 3) the inquiry will pass, because enough at-risk members who represent purple districts (including many that voted for Joe Biden in 2020) feel pressured to vote for it, and they’ll be defeated in the general election, almost guaranteeing the GOP loses the House, and there will be a crushing trial defeat in the Senate, most especially with Majorie Taylor Greene as a House manager. And especially, too, since the public hates meaningless impeachment trials of presidents – witness President Bill Clinton’s approval rating skyrocketing after he got impeached for reasons the public abhorred.

I also get the sense that the GOP is committing a ton of self-inflicted wounds, so (to a slight degree…) it’s good for Democrats to just get out of the way and let them keep shooting themselves in the foot.  The crying about all the court cases and indictments and guilty verdicts is just one thing.  The use of a Russian intel agent is another.  Then there’s Trump comparing himself to Alexie Navalny.  And the House GOP not funding aid to Ukraine (which 74% of Americans support.)  And now, again, the House is talking about shutting down the government in yet another week.  I think each of these is horrific for Republicans, but together the weight of them – and they’ll be lots more, as they get more crazed, and particularly as what appears to be Trump’s  early-onset dementia seems to be kicking in – will be unsupportable.  Topped by great comment the other week from the wonderful Rep. Jasimine Crockett of Texas, where she said something like “Better than investigating Hunter Biden at this point, we should look into how Russia has infiltrated the Republican Party.”  Great.

And then, the GOP now also has to deal with the insanity about Alabama declaring frozen embryos to be children!  And Republican officials are falling over backwards trying to figure out how to say they’re for IVF while being on record voting against IVR.  And this piles on top of the abortion issue, which even without the problem of IVF should be massive problem for Republicans. Indeed, the question that reporters should ask Republicans now is not only about their position on abortion, or even IVR but also now:  do you consider frozen embryos to be children?

And there even was a topper that followed on top of that, which I wrote about the other day.  It’s a tweet from the Heritage Foundation, the major advisory think tank for Republicans.  And what they wrote – and it’s almost too bizarre to be true– is that they are against…recreational sex!!  And it’s even worse than that.  They wrote: 

"’It seems to me that a good place to start would be a feminist movement against the pill, & for... returning the consequentiality to sex.’

“Conservatives have to lead the way in restoring sex to its true purpose, & ending recreational sex & senseless use of birth control pills.”

As I noted, this is such a great way to get the youth vote.  And they should make up fliers “Stop recreational sex. Vote GOP!” and distribute them to every campus.  But the problem for Republicans is that this doesn’t just affect young people, since, after all, married couples who don’t want more kids still have recreational sex. 

I don’t know what they’re thinking, but Republicans are becoming whirling dervish crazy.  Now, add to it Supreme Court Samuel Alito hinting he wants to make “non-traditional marriage” illegal.

The GOP is really becoming their own worst enemy.  And it will get worse.  I know that President Biden and Democrats are beginning to address these issue and will (and must) do more – but the good news is that Republicans are doing the heavy lifting themselves.