Some Things Could Be Finer Than to Be in Carolina...

The other day, Republicans in the North Carolina legislature overrode the Democratic governor’s veto and passed a draconian law banning abortion after just 12 weeks.  Making this more galling was that the GOP supermajority allowing this to happen only came about because a freshman legislator, Tricia Cotham, elected as a pro-choice Democrat in a district she won by almost 20 points, changed parties after just five months and declared herself anti-abortion.  It seems reasonable to think she’ll have just one term in the legislature.

What stood out most to me was Republicans defending the law (which is heavily opposed in the state by 14 points, 54%-40%) by trying to claim it was a “compromise” bill.

To be clear, all Democrats opposed it.  Zero Democrats voted for it.  No Democrats were consulted on it.  But to Republicans, it was “compromise” only because in South Carolina, they had a six week ban, and some Republicans wanted that in North Carolina, as well, but they “compromised” among themselves and agreed on twelve weeks.

That’s the point here.

To Republicans today, that qualifies as “compromise.”  It’s not just that the other party doesn’t matter – but to today’s election Republican officials, the public doesn’t matter.  Indeed, notable in that aforementioned poll is that more of those questioned had voted for Trump!  But to those Republican officials, all that matters is what the extreme wing of the GOP wants.  And debating among themselves is what constitutes “compromise.”

It's how Republican legislators tend to act these days.  It’s why the United States sits weeks away from the first default ever in the country, risking global economic chaos.  Because all that matters is what the extreme, fascist wing of the party is what matters to Republicans.  And what they argue among themselves only is “compromise.”

That's the point.

It’s related to one of the core foundations of fascism – that all opposing sources of power must be undermined.  The press, the judicial system, the intelligence services, academics…and other political parties.  They don’t matter.  Just “compromise” among Republicans.

By the way, notable in this poll is that though more said they’d voted for Trump, more also said that if the election for the North Carolina legislature was held today…more would vote Democratic.

Given how this week Democrat Donna Deegan defeated the sitting GOP mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, the largest city with a Republican mayor in the United States, despite being outspent 4-to-1 and despite the mayor having the support of Gov. Ron DeSantis, becoming the first woman ever elected mayor in the city’s history, even a slight swing to Democrat support in North Carolina bodes a troubling trend for Republicans.

And  yes, that's the point, too.