There’s a climactic scene in A Perfect Storm, the otherwise woefully inadequate screen translation of Sebastian Junger’s fantastic book, that may accurately encapsulate even our most favorable governmental prospects. After struggling through frightening swells to get his fishing boat out of a monstrous storm system it appears George Clooney and his crew have finally found high pressure and the calm seas it promises. For a moment they celebrate, but then Clooney scans the horizon and drops his head. “It’s not going to let us out,” he sadly surrenders, just before a mountain of water capsizes the vessel.
As Decision 2020 approaches, most consider trouncing Trump the grail to be seized. Such an outcome, the conventional wisdom holds, will get us back on track to some sort of normalcy, where the news cycle is not one long ticker tape of outrageous incompetence, lies and corruption. A place where productive government can at least be pursued without constant sabotage from the White House and its posse of Hill nihilists committed to carrying as much water as Trump sloshes their way. A new day, when we are no longer held hostage by an unhinged sociopath slumped on an antique couch, remote in one hand and an unsecured IPhone in the other. A glorious deliverance from a mad king. Certainly not happily ever after, but at least saved from the clutches of ruin. Right? Not so fast.
It becomes more clear every day this crisis won’t be over even if we succeed in sending Trump back to his gilded tower. Anyone spending part of their life they won’t get back watching Congressional hearings on ANY subject, from election security to reforms of police procedures to DC statehood can detect a terrible trend.
Back in 2009, when Sarah Palin sought with feverish indiscretion to cash in on her 15 minutes by diving headlong into Fox/AM’s shit river, conservative pundit David Brooks dismissed her as a “show horse” with little to offer the national discussion. Brooks did his usual nervous laugh thing as he predicted a short run for the budding reality TV regular, while lecturing that political parties require more than simply hissing grievance and resentment 24/7, they demand substance, actual lawmaking. A decade later Brooks is a man without a political home, as the GOP has descended to nihilist depths even Palin couldn’t conjure up as she embraced every ounce of her nastiness.
On Facebook, House Intelligence ranking member Devin Dunes seeks contributions with an ad post calling on all Trumpies to fight back against fake news. Only approved sources, like Nunes’ own print and on-line publications he finances directly can be trusted. Nunes, who has taken to calling Democrats the Democratic/socialist party on Twitter, accuses them of being “under the thumb” of “tech oligarchs” even as he enjoys as prodigious a presence on social media as any member of either caucus, fully mimicking the irreverent shorthand of the tweeter-in-chief. And make no mistake, collaboration on a resolution praising National Cheeseburger Day is as far as Nunes’ bipartisan inclinations extend, whether on matters within or past the water’s edge. Nunes appears content in his niche slot as a constant inhibiter of investigations into Trump malfeasance and ubiquitous presence on the Fox prime-time lineup. Issues and process take a back seat to providing official luster to Hannity fever dreams about the deep state.
Such back benching is no longer an outlier but the norm in today’s GOP. Tuning into a House hearing on how changes to police procedure may decrease the number of unarmed people shot to death during otherwise minor encounters that escalate out of control seemed at first encouraging. Granted, Al Sharpton had been invited to testify, but Reverend Al’s remarks were not controversial, and his tone was constructive, right in line with his remade persona as an MSNBC host. Thoughtful exchanges on topics such as perhaps training recruits coming out of the military to shed their previous predispositions to viewing encounters as dangerous confrontations were constructive, the atmosphere almost convivial. Until Florida Republican Matt Gaetz was allotted his five minutes.
Uninterested in anything other than picking a fight with Sharpton, Gaetz began to read from a resolution none other than Joe Scarborough had introduced years before to condemn Reverend Al for his role in the Crown Heights riots. Of course arguing with bigots is Sharpton’s wheelhouse and what was a pretty decent give and take on an important issue went right off the rails, exactly where Gaetz wanted it. Whatever Sharpton was then or is now meant nothing to Gaetz past providing an opportunity to preen for, first Trump, then Fox/AM. Whether it’s the audience of one in the East Wing or the wretched core, the last thing Gaetz cares about is governing. Later that evening, Tucker Carlson rewarded Gaetz with a special shout out and promised viewers the whole ugly exchange would be uploaded to the show’s page. The “substance” Brooks once demanded is nowhere to be found within the House GOP; instead they are rotten schoolboys, and every day provides a another substitute teacher to torment.
Ditto, it now appears, the Senate Republican leadership, who demonstrate no interest to find consensus for any response to threats to America’s elections, now routine mass shootings, the continued disgrace of family separations at the southern border, or anything else for that matter. They are, however, available to echo their House counterparts and denounce Democrats as socialists…. and the media as fake, albeit in a more reserved and structured manner. Rather than permit votes on legislation, McConnell preferred taking to the Senate floor last week and denouncing the Democrats’ “embrace of one half-baked socialist proposal after another.”
In both national chambers, not to mention flyover state legislatures, the new GOP brand is open disdain for governance, a full redefinition of their job descriptions to focus exclusively on mocking the democratic process, completely in line with their President. Sedition in unapologetically plain view. If this is how they act when they are in a position to actually get laws passed, how do you suppose they will behave with a, say, President Warren? Joe Biden promises he can get things done across the aisle. Not with this bunch. Does anybody really think, were the GOP still to control the Senate in 2021, that Moscow Mitch won’t pull a Garland if Clarence Thomas retires? The wretched core will demand nothing less.
It’s the old chicken before the egg question. Back in the primaries of 2016, the GOP had a stage full of the best talent it could muster…. and Trump. The Donald demonstrated how little power the party possessed to control the mob created by dependency on Roger Ailes for its messaging. The resulting chaos has distracted even those who paid attention to what their game plan was, carried out in full view during the Obama years. Forced after another trouncing in 2012 to choose which way to go as the road forked, a bigger tent or the inferno, Republicans headed south. Today that march continues, Trump has merely forced them to move at the double step, like Patton heading to Bastogne, only this trek leads not to glory in defense of freedom, but shame in pursuit of power. It’s doubtful a new President will be enough to force a turnaround. BC
Another good read.