We haven’t had a “You Are There” article for a while, but yesterday seemed to cry out for one again. After all, as the old TV series You are There asked -- what kind of a day was it? A day like any other with Republicans still pushing the Big Lie and now in slim control of the House, except…You Are There.
It was stunning to see such widespread bipartisanship in the House. But there it was – Marjorie Taylor Greene offered an amendment to prohibit President Biden from selling oil in the future to help combat high prices, and it went down to defeat with Republicans crossing the aisle to join Democrats. But “join” doesn’t do it justice, it was a stampede. Her amendment lost by a vote of...14 votes in favor and 418 votes opposed! This wasn’t just a bad vote, it’s the sort of thing where, if she keeps doing stuff like this, some moderate Republicans might start to peel off sooner than later, especially once they see that they can cross the aisle and vote with Democrats and not explode. A CNN poll reports that 73% of those polled are unhappy with House Republicans, feeling that they aren’t prioritizing important issues. Gee, what ever could have given them that idea. It’s stunning though that the public has recognized it already – and by “already,” I mean after just 23 days into the session. The thing is, that's NOT the bad news for the Republican Party. It's that this being the House GOP's "honeymoon period" is when their approval will be at the highest. Which now sits at 27%. For the number to be that low, it means a lot of Republicans had to join Democrats and Independents in expressing their displeasure. President Biden’s approval currently sits around 44%. For House Republicans to be that significantly below President Biden – and this early in their session, with all their insane impeachments and investigations and proposals (like a 30% sale tax, instead of an income tax, which only benefits the very wealthy) and risking causing world economic crash – is seriously problematic for the GOP. The California Bar Association is now officially hearing whether to disbar John Eastman, who is considered the architect of Trump’s Insurrection strategy. I’m currently reading the House Select Committee January 6 Report, and am near the end. I’ll just say that it’s not shocking to see this happening to Eastman. It’s not just that his fingerprints are all over the strategy in his advice and speeches, most notably that Vice President Pence should refuse to accept the certified votes, but in private he regularly acknowledged that there was no validity to the strategy he kept pushing Trump to take. When William Barr was Attorney General, a New York Times blockbuster report shows that he pushed Special Counsel John Durham to get Italian officials to help discredit the Mueller investigation of Trump ties to Russia. And it turns out that the Italians did provide a tip – except it wasn’t about Russia, but about what appeared to be financial crime by Trump. A tip so substantive that it couldn’t be ignored. So, Barr had no choice but assign Durham to investigate, evening going to the lengths of opening a criminal investigation...and then buried whatever he found -- all the while leaving the impression with the public that what Durham was investigating was about misdeeds in the intelligence services towards Trump, rather than possible Trump crimes. And in an all-caps, crazed social media post, Trump claimed that he can get Putin and Zelenskyy (who Trump tried to blackmail and got impeached for it) to agree to peace in just 24 hours. That is so cool! It's like we're playing, "Name That Tune"! So, okay, I'll give it a whirl and try... I CAN GET PUTIN AND ZELENSKYY TO MAKE PEACE IN...23 HOURS!!! The ball is now in Trump’s court. Ding!
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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