Today's Even Odder Thought

I was going to push my already-written piece for today back yet another day because of Trump's Joy Ride. (tm)  Especially cause this was something to be outraged about, under my "Save outrage for the most outrageous" Rule.  But I'm too galled, and it speaks for itself too easily that I'm basically going to let it pass and...well, speak for itself.

It’s odd.  Trump done far worse things than this joy ride.  But it just was a repugnant teeth gnashing act of utter stupidity and recklessness from a man who is actually, truly sick with a deadly infectious disease.  The coronavirus doesn’t care about bombast or who much you want to lie about how great you are.  Maybe he’ll recover fast and be reasonably fine.  Maybe it’ll take him a while to recover, but he'll eventually get back up to speed, perhaps with some complications.  And it’s not possible to rule out the worst.  Maybe what affected me – and I assume most people – is how much a cavalier spit in the face this is to the almost eight million people who have been infected and their families and friends.  And a cavalier spit in the face at the 320 million Americans who have turned their lives inside out for years to come.  Just so he could defy the doctors and have a joyride to wave at his cult.

The attending physician at Walter Reed -- who is Chief of Disaster Medicine -- sent out two scathing tweets!  I heard a doctor analyst on MSNBC who was furious.  She said that if a patient tried that at her hospital, she’d have the person restrained and given a psych evaluation to see if they understood what they were doing and able to make such decisions!!

Besides the ghoulishness, I also had a realization about what's so utterly politically stupid about his joy ride stunt.  It's that now when he does get released finally, we won't know if it's because he's okay...or if (like the joy ride), he forced the doctors to release him.

But that's all I find myself willing to write about Mr. Trump's Wild Ride today. As I said, it speaks for itself.  And it's ugly and stupid and dangerous and infantile and pathetic.

Instead, we'll jump to my odd thought of the other day.  Since ultimately the stories do, in a way, overlap.

On Friday night, I posted a brief piece here I called "Today's odd thought."  I wrote about how bizarre it would be is if the Republicans can't get a majority on Senate Judiciary Committee. Right now (with Mike Lee and Thom Tillis testing positive), the makeup of the committee is actually 10-10 for who could show up in person!! However, that's likely to have little impact because chairman Lindsey Graham wants to hold virtual hearings by Zoom (or whatever protocol software they use). But there's a Senate agreement against this for lifetime appointments, and if one more Republican senator on the committee gets infected, because a Democratic majority could overrule the chair... It's not likely, I know, but it's a such weird and not unreasonable thought.

But really, how odd if the Democrats had the majority on the committee and voted to table the nomination. Again, I'm not expecting this. I just like the oddity of it.

And that's what I wrote on Saturday morning.  Then, a little while later, I had an additional through and expanded the idea.

And that new idea was -- what if Republicans have enough senators test positive for COVID-19 that they have to quarantine...and Democrats take control of the full Senate??! 

This still has a ways to go – the Senate makeup is 53-47, but now with three senators testing positive and quarantining (Ron Johnson is the third -- but that's when I'm writing this.  Who knows if the number will change by the time I post it...) -- the divide is just 50-47.  However, even if they don’t take control of the Senate, they could still cause huge problems for the confirmation, since two Republicans have already said they’d vote no, which means that right now an in-person vote in the Senate would be – 49-48…against.

I sent emails to a few friends with this even odder thought, and one friend began telling me off, that that's not how the Senate works, that Mitch McConnell is still the Majority Leader and in charge and decides what's voted on and you're wrong -- but then yesterday afternoon this article showed up on the RawStory website:

"Three GOP senators are quarantined — Democrats can now seize control of the Senate." 

You can read the article here.

Now, clearly, this is a long shot and unlikely, made all the more so because it’s playing serious hardball.  The article doesn’t have the numbers right, I don’t think – I don’t believe they have control now -- but the way the GOP senators are dropping off, they certainly may soon.

There are two ways it can work.

One that they don’t mention is that I believe the majority can call any bill out of committee to the floor.  I don’t know if that requires 60 votes, though.  But if it's the case that just a majority can call a bill to the floor and vote on it, Democrats would have the votes to kill the nomination.  But that's an "if."

The other way is a definite, though is truly serious hardball.  However, scholar Norm Ornstein wrote a couple of public tweets to Chuck Schumer that are quoted in the article and asked --Don’t you believe Mitch McConnell would do this to you?  What the tactic would be that, as the Constitution states, if Democrats are in the majority, they can call for a quorum, have the sergeant-at-arms block anyone with COVID from coming to the Senate floor…and then – since they’re in the majority – vote for a new majority leader!  And also appoint new committee chairs!

As I said, that’s serious hardball.  And I don’t think they have a majority yet.  But as I said, the way Republicans are dropping, it is seriously possible.  But major hardball.  Though, again, as Norm Ornstein said -- Don't you think Mitch McConnell would do this to you?

It's unlikely.  It's major hardball.  It'd be profoundly controversial.  But the most bizarre thing of all is -- it's actually realistically possible.

By the way, there's a bit of an addendum to this.  And it's that even Republicans are well aware of the possibilities facing them if they can't muster a majority to the Senate.  So, much so that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) on Sunday addressed the chance of not having enough members show up to vote and said --

"There is a long and venerable tradition of ill or medically infirmed senators being wheeled in to cast critical votes on the Senate floor.”

So, okay, let me comment on this as clearly as I can --

NO, NOT WHEN THEY ARE QUARANTINING WITH A DEADLY INFECTIOUS DISEASE!!

I'm sorry to "shout," but clearly normal, sane talk in a low-key inside voice isn't heard by today's Republican Party.. Keep in mind that the whole reason why Tom Cotton (R-OK) actually felt compelled to make his point is because...three senators have gotten infected and had to quarantine in the last few days -- because they went to a party with a lot of people!  And he's suggesting they should be "wheeled in" among the entire U.S. Senate.  This obviously is Standard Operating Procedure for today's Republican Party, but that's why they're in the coronavirus mess they're in.  It doesn't work for Democrats.  Or for people who understand basic health and science.

But to make this even more clear to Mr. Cotton (R-OK) and any of his other fellow-Republicans who seem to want to make all of America a Human Petrie Dish Superspreader, consider what's sort of gotten overlooked --

Trump -- tested positive.

Trump's campaign manager -- tested positive.

Chairwoman of the RNC -- -- tested positive.

This is today's GOP.  Ladies and gentlemen: Meet your Republican Party leadership!  

Now, add in Kellyanne Conway, Hope Hicks, Chris Christie, the aforementioned Sen. Mike Lee, Sen. Thom Tillis and Sen. Ron Johnson -- so far -- all testing positive for the coronavirus with just a few days.  Because they apparently all went to a big party to rush through a Supreme Court nominee they had no business even nominating.

We'll end with just one other quote.

"Oh, when will they ever learn?  When will they ever learn?"

-- Pete Seeger