Throw Some Other Shrimps at the "Barbie"

​This is one of the reasons why, honestly, I think the Republican Party will do badly in 2024 across the country.  It is a RawStory headline that appeared on Sunday –
 
“‘Barbie’ slammed by conservatives as ‘man-hating woke propaganda’ amid box office success."
 
No to be clear, this isn’t “why” Republicans will do badly.  But it’s part of the reason.  Really. 
 
Let me explain.
 
A couple weeks back, what initially caught my eye was not that the New York Times wrote a detailed article revealing Trump’s fascist plan to expand the White House with autocratic powers if elected.  It’s that Trump did not slam the report as "fake news," nor did he say a word about it being untrue.  But what struck me even more is that no elected Republican official slammed the fascist plan as being undemocratic.  Or reprehensible.  Or…anything.  Silence.  Crickets chirping.
 
To be fair, I almost expected this, since it’s who Trump has been for years – not just embracing autocratic despots, but even publicly saying that he admired Chinese President Xi for having made himself president for life, to which Trump added, “I think it's great. Maybe we'll give that a shot some day.”  And Republicans have been silent and enabling Trump’s fascism all along the way.  Because it’s who today’s Republican Party have become.
 
What I didn’t initially expect, though, is that Republicans in Congress would begin slamming the Barbie movie.  One congressman even said it “endangered national security,” (if it did, they should campaign on that, and would be irresponsible if they didn’t), and several senators (including, of course, Ted Cruz) have called it Communist.  And Republican outrage over a movie about a toy doll has only grown and caused a party meltdown since then.  And no, that’s not hyperbole.  After all, there was that aforementioned RawStory headline on Sunday: "‘Barbie’ slammed by conservatives as ‘man-hating woke propaganda’ amid box office success."

But then I realized that not only should I have expected this, but the Barbie movie is spot-on indicative of why I think the GOP will do badly in the 2024 election nationally -- because it fits into a long pattern that today’s Republican Party has fallen into.
 
This realization became more clear days later, after learning that Barbie endangered national security,  when the official RNC Research account on Twitter posted an attempt that tried to ridicule President Biden with a video that showed him having ice cream with hardhat workers, the point of which RNC Research apparently believes demonstrated…honestly, sorry, no, I don’t have any idea what the ridiculing “outrage” was supposed to show.  I’ve tried, but I’ve come up with nothing.

And ultimately, it all fit together.  It fit clearly, easily, like a completed jigsaw puzzle.  It fit without even having to try to connect the dots.  The dots were already as connected as a Georges Seurat masterpiece.
​

​​Here’s the deal:

During an election cycle, when Republicans control the U.S. House of Representatives and have in their hands the ability to pass all the bills they want in order to show the voting public that these are the programs they stand for, the Republican programs that will help Americans, setting the GOP Agenda in stone to explain to the country why you should vote for Republicans – this is the small-minded garbage they are doing --
 
They’re investigating Hunter Biden.  Still.  The son of a president, a private citizen who had an admitted drug problem and who (unlike grifters Jared Kushner with his $2 billion from Saudi Arabia and Ivanka Trump with her 34 trademarks from China) didn’t have a position working in the Administration.  They want to expunge Trump’s two impeachments, something which (despite being repugnant to sentient beings) doesn’t exist in reality.  They’re passing six-week bans on abortion, when polls show the vast majority of Americans strongly support the standards that had existed under Roe v. Wade, which were around 24 weeks.  They want to impeach Joe Biden.  And impeach Merrick Garland.  And impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.  And impeach fill-in-the blank.  Indeed, they’re so out of control they’re trying to use Chinese foreign agents – who they can’t even find -- as their “witnesses.  And then they brought in anti-vaxxer Robert Kennedy Jr. to rail against vaccines and (for some reason) non-existent censorship.
 
Don’t worry, we’ll get to Barbie.  I haven’t forgotten.  It’s hard to forget Republicans willing to die on the hill over Barbie.

But it’s even more than all that.  After all, with control of the U.S. House, and the chance to show American voters what they stand for to help Americans, small-minded Republicans around the country – in the supposed name of “freeeeeedom!” -- are passing laws to ban books.  Passing laws that ban the teaching of Black history.  Passing laws to ban men who wear dresses from putting on public shows.  (Women wearing suits is apparently okay.)  Passing laws to ban trans children from actually getting health care.  And…
 
…and they’re passing school “standards” (sic) that require teaching “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”  Which everyone outside of Florida actually have long-since learned since grade school is insane.  And hardly the sort of education most people who are not virulently racist want for their children.  In fact, it’s likely that at least some people, if not many of those who actually are virulently racist still want their children to learn reality.

And lest one think that some of these empty, divisive, racist, hurtful actions are limited to just a few specific states, no, because it speaks loudly that national Republicans have almost entirely kept silent on them all, not a word of criticism, tacitly enabling them all.   This endorsement by silence is who the Republican Party is.
 
Silent, too, when the North Carolina Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, who is running for governor, said with his outdoor voice for everyone to hear that he endorsed people reading Hitler, Stalin, Chairman Mao, Castro and Pol Pot – and other “despots” (his word).  And elected Republicans in Congress and around the country were silent about that.  As silent as they all were when a fascist “Moms for Liberty” (sic) branch quoted Hitler in its literature – and after they sort of apologized, kind of, for making the mistake of using it (though not for endorsing what Hitler said) the national group’s head doubled down in support at the organization’s summit a couple weeks later.
 
Small-minded Republicans have driven themselves into a mad frenzy over All Things “Woke” – yet you cannot get a united definition from Republicans of what “Woke” actually is.  (Ron DeSantis, who you’d think could define it in his sleep – especially since “sleep” is the opposite of “Woke” – tried a month back, but you needed a law degree from an uncredited school in the Bahamas to figure out what he meant.)  You can make a guess what Republicans might possibly think maybe it means, but a guess is not them telling you, because they can’t.  And if some Republican does tell you – the next Republican will say something totally different.  As will the next.  (Personally, my own guess is that “Woke” means liberal…)  All of which means that the one big thing central to what the Republican Party wants you to believe is terrible – Woke! -- is something even they can’t define.

Which ultimately brings us to Barbie.  And why this is part of why Republicans will do badly in 2024.  Combined with all the above, but standing importantly on its own.  Yes, Barbie. A very popular movie about a toy doll that Republicans are having an emotional breakdown over.
 
Barbie.

Republicans control the House, they can pass bills to show Americans what they care about to help lives (which I repeat again because it can’t be said enough)...and this – this is the kind of mindless garbage that elected Republican officials think is important!! It's a movie about a toy DOLL. And people across America love it!

Republicans are trying desperately to make an issue that the movie Barbie has endangered national security.  And was Communist.  And is undermining the male psyche.  Barbie!!
 
(In fairness, it does sort of seem like this movie about a toy doll is, in fact, undermining the psyche of Republican males.  Though in equal fairness, that doesn’t seem difficult these days.)
 
And Republicans are trying to do this because – this is who Republicans are. They have nothing to seriously run. They control the House and can pass actual bills, and this is what they’re going after.  A popular movie about a beloved toy doll.  Barbie isn’t the start of explaining the problem – it’s the culmination of what has been going on with today’s small-minded Republicans for years. 
 
Before Republicans cried out against Barbie, it was Dr. Seuss they were “outraged” over.  And Mr. Potato Head.  And Goofy.  And The Muppets.  And The Little Mermaid.  And M&Ms.  And Disney.  Barbie isn’t the exception, Barbie helps define the rule.  These are the things that Republicans think matters. Barbie, Dr. Seuss, Mr. Potato Head, Goofy, The Muppets, M&Ms, The Little Mermaid. All that, and "slavery had benefits for slaves."  And how awful it is that Joe Biden is eating ice cream with workers.  And how awful it is that Joe Biden was reading a book on the beach with his wife.  And how awful it is that Jill Biden calls herself “Dr.,” because she has a doctorate.
 
(But never mind that Trump is indicted for stealing classified documents.  And was found liable for sexual assault – which the judge has said was actually the accepted definition of rape.  And about to be indicted twice for trying to overturn democracy.  But I digress…)
 
And in a long political campaign upcoming, people will not only see it clearly, they won't be able to avoid seeing it. Because it's who Republicans are, and all they have to campaign on.  Which is why they’re campaigning on it – rather than passing bills in the House that will actually help Americans.
 
This, therefore, is part of why Republicans will do badly in 2024.
 
When you don't stand for anything, when you spend years trying to destroy the private son of a president, when you use a foreign agent for China (who you can’t even find) as your witness of non-existent “crimes, when you continue to relentlessly ban things – in the name of “freeeedom!” – that the public repeatedly shows it hugely wants, when you think that "culture wars" is your winning ticket, when one of the core tenets of fascism is to undermine all other centers of power and popularity, when "culture wars" turns out in the end to be all you have in your empty sack, then taking on children's toys becomes your level of competition.
 
That’s what these shrimps have become.

For goodness sake.  The Republican Party is outraged over -- Barbie.

And to be very clear, this isn’t the Republican Party punching “down.”  The GOP going after a toy doll is the party doing its best to punch up.
 
And finishing second.