The Republican Party is Out of Ideas

It will come as no surprise to anyone who has been watching American politics for the last twenty or so years, but the Republican Party is out of ideas.

The party that used to pride itself on a slavish adherence to ideology—just listen to Paul Ryan talk about discussing Ayn Rand at college parties—is now the party that has its lips surgically attached to Donald J. Trump’s flabby ass.

Nothing else matters except making sure that you are on the right side of Trump and his rabid supporters come primary time.  Whatever position you need to take at the moment, regardless of how insane or damaging to American institutions it may be, is the path you must follow lest you find yourself the target of an internet broadside.

Even the conservative think tanks—those wonderful organizations full of people spewing intellectual sounding opinions that are really just old school John Birch Society screeds in a fancy new wrapper—have abandoned the veneer of ideology.  Take the Claremont Institute.  This organization, of which Trump’s favorite insurrectionist supporting lawyer John Eastman is a senior fellow, has abandoned any sort of pretense of principled ideology.  Glenn Ellmers, also a senior fellow like his compatriot in the sewer John Eastman, recently published a stunning opinion piece where he stated:   

“Let’s be blunt. The United States has become two nations occupying the same country. When pressed, or in private, many would now agree. Fewer are willing to take the next step and accept that most people living in the United States today—certainly more than half—are not Americans in any meaningful sense of the term.” 

Think about this paragraph for a moment.  Ellmers is essentially “othering” anyone who does not support Trump and declaring them forbidden from being considered a part of the American experience.  If you thought that was bad wait until you see what he wrote a few paragraphs later:

“Practically speaking, there is almost nothing left to conserve. What is actually required now is a recovery, or even a refounding, of America as it was long and originally understood but which now exists only in the hearts and minds of a minority of citizens.”

Yep, he puts pen to paper and actually calls for a refounding of the United States by a minority of its citizens.  This is a scary path, but it is the path the Republican Party chose when it nominated, voted for, and tried to reelect Donald J. Trump.  It’s the same thought process that enabled thousands of people to foment a violent insurrection on January 6^th, 2021 that culminated in the storming of the U.S. Capitol.

This is not the Republican Party of William F. Buckley, George Will, and the country club set of yore.  This is the Republican Party of AM talk radio, Newsmax, social media, and Donald J. Trump.

No longer can the Republican Party lay claim to ideals.  It is about the pursuit of power in order to impress its minority will on the majority of Americans, who despite what Glenn Ellmers think retain their right to their “Americanness” despite their political beliefs not aligning with a coterie of people who have hitched their star to a proto-fascist.

Lest you think this is a trend restricted to the national level witness what is going on in Texas with regard to voting rights.  Or Florida doing what Florida does when it comes to voting rights, public health, or really anything that matters to people.  Or Ohio’s latest bald faced gerrymander that will keep sexual assault enablers like Jim Jordan in office with no worry about reelection save for a potential primary challenge to his right.  Imagine that, someone to the right of Jim Jordan.  Now that is a truly horrifying thought.

The Republican Party of 2021 has abandoned ideas and focused on one thing: Imposing its minority opinion on a majority of Americans.

Republicans are Really Just Performance Artists

I still do not understand what “Soy Bomb” was doing in 1998 and I do not understand Republicans in 2021.  Regardless, the reality is that both are just performance artists.

This is a natural devolution of the Republican Party that began with the emergence of Rush Limbaugh and then on to Fox News before finally ending up with Donald Trump.  If your entire schtick is based on manufactured outrage it is natural that you will end up with Marjorie Taylor Greene as your end state.

Consider North Carolina’s Madison Cawthorn.  Elected in 2020 he did not even bother hiding the fact that his main priority was to put on a show.  In an email to colleagues he wrote, “I have built my staff around comms rather than legislation.”  He only seems less horrible when compared to other Republicans in the House like Lauren Boebert of the aforementioned Georgia Goblin.

The Peach State Pariah is the epitome of the modern Republican Party’s devolution into two-bit street theater.  She does not hold any committee assignments on account of her being a horrible human being who does not think that rules apply to her because…uh…freedom?  It does not matter.  She is a Republican “star” because she brings the attention.  Legislation?  That is for suckers.  Policy?  If it is not related to guns she does not care.  Decorum?  Isn’t that a city in Greece or something.

There is no policy platform for Republicans.  The leadership of the party has not even bothered to update its platform from 2016.   Granted, this is a party fronted by a man who is adverse to reading. Policy does not matter as long as the eyeballs are watching on Fox News and the dollars are flowing in to the PAC coffers.

Nothing matters, save for the attention of the hyper-partisan base that votes in primaries and the approval of Donald Trump.  Just watch the performance art begin as the primary season heats up in advance of the mid-term elections in 2022.  If you thought the groveling of potential candidates at Mar a Lago was bad you have not seen anything yet.

Witness<a href="http://&lt;!– wp:paragraph –> <p>Witness Kevin McCarthy trying to put together a cogent argument about the work ethic of the former president who was notorious for being the laziest person to inhabit the office in history.  []  It is not a statement made for the people of the United States.  It is a love not sent directly to Donald Trump.</p> Kevin McCarthy trying to put together a cogent argument about the work ethic of the former president who was notorious for being the laziest person to inhabit the office in history.  It is not a statement made for the people of the United States.  It is a love not sent directly to Donald Trump.

One day in the future this sideshow will come to a cratered ending.  It just might be too late to save anything resembling the United States of America.

Friday Linkage 2/3/2017

Well, this week happened.  It was a week in which I found myself agreeing with Dick freaking Cheney.  The man better known as W’s Darth Vader actually came out against Trump’s horrible ban on refugees as “against everything we stand for and believe in.”

Never mind the failure to actually limit immigration or entry into the United States from countries that have exported terror to the United States—yes, I am wondering why Saudi Arabia was left off the list and it could not have anything to do with Trump’s sons business dealings.  You remember that Eric and Don Jr. are running the empire now, right?

On to the links…

This Map Might Make You Think Twice About Trump’s Immigration Ban—I wonder why Donald Trump and Steve Bannon did not include Saudi Arabia—home to almost all of the 9/11 terrorists—on their list of countries?  Oh right, conflicts of interest:

Republican Bill to Privatize Public Lands is Yanked after Outcry—Your voices matter.  When a snake oil salesman like Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is forced to back down amid public outcry, you know something is working in this messed up world.  Keep up the heat and make sure that every member of Congress knows that we are watching.

‘It’s A Big One’: Iowa Pipeline Leaks—The number of gallons of diesel fuel leaked is being debated.  Of course the oil company says it is fewer than reported, but who really believes them?  Remember this every time someone says that oil pipelines are so safe.

US Coal Industry Will Continue Historic Decline Through 2017—In spite of Donald Trump’s rhetoric coal will continue to fall out of favor in the U.S.  It is called a death spiral for a reason.

The Great Energy Disruption—When you go back and look at these projections, as the author points out, many of the assumptions driving the models are wrong…to the better.  Renewable energy generation has gotten cheaper, faster.  Energy storage has gotten cheaper, faster.  The beat goes on.

Who Installs More Solar Power? Republicans and Democrats are Pretty Much Tied.—Must not be any of the Republicans elected to Congress.  Those guys hate solar.

The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt May Be The Start Of The Everyday Electric Revolution—This is why the Chevy Bolt may be the true winner of the electric vehicle war to come…it’s kind of boring, in an everyday get my stuff done kind of way.

The Next EV Revolution: Think Trucks and Buses—If you are looking to get some serious savings in terms of oil consumed in the transportation sector look to heavy duty commercial vehicles.  This quote from the article encapsulates the opportunity perfectly: While medium and heavy trucks account for only 4% of America’s 250+ million vehicles, they represent 26% of American fuel use and 29% of vehicle CO2 emissions.

Chart of the Month: Driven by Tesla, Battery Prices Cut in Half since 2014—Think about that for a moment—battery costs have been cut in half in approximately three years.  This is before the Gigafactory and mainstream EVs really hit the market bringing some true economies of scale to bear:

Going Local: The Solution-Multiplier—In the age of Trump local matter more than ever.

Diageo Opening Guinness Brewery in US—With all the great craft beer in America, do we really need Guinness to open up a destination brewery?  I have had their rye pale ale and it does not belong on the shelf with a hundred other great American beers.

Nation’s Bacon Reserves hit 50-year Low as Prices Rise—In case your week was not crappy enough there may not be enough sweet, savory, delicious bacon to salve our wounded souls in the era of Trump.  WTF?

The Joni Ernst Watch 10/19/2015

When it comes to Joni “Make ‘em squeal” Ernst or Steve King it’s clown shoes all day, every day. Recently, the conversation in Iowa has turned away from our homegrown whack-a-doos and focused on the nutcase circus that will be the Republican caucus.

Steve King is really enjoying his moment in the sun as the right wing clown car is circling the state of Iowa trying to get his endorsement in some misguided faith that it represents true political gravitas. Given his new popularity, King has really been mouthing off lately which for him is saying something considering his past statements about…um, everything.

Apparently, he does not believe Muslims can assimilate into American culture:

But I can’t find models of the folks that, say, do the hajj to Mecca, I can’t find models where they’ve assimilated into the broader culture of civilization wherever they’ve gone.

What does this puffed up joker even mean by the words he speaks? I am guessing that he wants to see instances where Muslims came to a new country, renounced their faith, and became Christian. That might satisfy him.

He just couldn’t let things go and like right wing icon Joe Arpaio King decided to let loose his love of tents in the desert:

Then send them into Saudi Arabia, where they have the air-conditioned tents at Mecca. Those tents are not busy for 11 months out of the year, and they would assimilate into that civilization like a hand into a glove.

This is the same guy who thinks that voters will reward the Republican Party in November 2016 with even more leadership authority based on their excellent stewardship over the last couple of years. Good luck with that.

When confronted with conflicting realities most Republican candidates are best advised to just turtle. It will be better for your brand. Take Ted Cruz. The Calgary, Canada born senator from Texas recently spewed some right wing garbage about immigration and deportation while standing in front of a bible verse that is commonly interpreted to be about helping immigrants.

Maybe Steve King just needs to jump on the Trump bandwagon. In Nevada Trump is leading with 38% of the vote in recent polling.

One of the great tropes of the right wing is that the Jews were persecuted because they did not resist the pogroms of Nazi Germany. Never mind that this was the same militaristic state that crushed the combined armies of the France and the United Kingdom in stunning fashion. Keith Ablow, who somehow still manages to make people watching Fox News believe he has some kind of authority on some topics, really doubled down:

Granted, hindsight is 20/20. But it turns out it was a bad idea for any Jew to have turned over a gun. It was a bad idea for any Jew to have boarded a train. It was a bad idea for any Jew to have passed through a gate into a camp. It was a bad idea for any Jew to do any work at any such camp. It was a bad idea for any Jew to not attempt to crush the skull or scratch out the eyes of any Nazi who turned his back for one moment. And every bullet that would have been fired into a Nazi coming to a doorway to confiscate a gun from a Jew would have been a sacred bullet.

Sure Keith, a police state backed by a modern military was going to back down from a core belief because someone owned a handgun.

The Joni Ernst Watch 10/5/2015

When it comes to Joni “Make ‘em squeal” Ernst or Steve King it’s clown shoes all day, every day. Recently, the conversation in Iowa has turned away from our homegrown whack-a-doos and focused on the nutcase circus that will be the Republican caucus.

Representatives Steve King and Rod Blum—both of Iowa and both of questionable judgment—voted against the continuing resolution to keep the government operating.

It is always a good idea to elect people to government whose sole mission is to see how bad they can run the government.

Steve King cannot figure out why Planned Parenthood remains popular:

I haven’t paid any attention to the polls. But am I surprised? Yes. That would explain some of the reasons why the leadership is not committing to defund.

Maybe the reason lies in the fact that Planned Parenthood provides a lot of services to women that would go unmet if the organization were defunded? But keep banging that drum. Over and over again.

However, Steve King is not as bad as House Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz who presented this horrible, no good, very bad graph:

See the problem? That’s right. In Republican World 327,000 is bigger than 935,573. Your “liberal math facts” do not apply when there is hay to be made with right wingers.

Chaffetx probably learned how to make graphs and present “facts” from the same jokers who put on the Values Voters Summit. The final session of the recent conference was entitled “How to Argue the Social Issues with Liberals and Libertarians” and was held in a standing room only conference room.  I find it interesting that the Values Voters Summit is concerned with libertarians as well, but oh well.

Remember, Rush Limbaugh is the standard bearer of what the right wing believes. Limbaugh now postulates that NASA is just a tool for “Muslim outreach.”   I do not even know what to say in response to logic smackdowns like that.

The Joni Ernst Watch 9/28/2015

When it comes to Joni “Make ‘em squeal” Ernst or Steve King it’s clown shoes all day, every day. Recently, the conversation in Iowa has turned away from our homegrown whack-a-doos and focused on the nutcase circus that will be the Republican caucus.

Joni Ernst has been quiet lately, but maybe she has just been drowned out by the circus that is the Republican party these days. It looks like she is going to take a stab at rolling back clean water rules.

Does Steve King think he is “man-splaining” to Pope Francis:

I think that it would be better for the Vatican to focus more on theology, and less on this thing that they’ve now had to have a name change from global warming to climate change.

Then again, King just seems to hate on everybody:

The people on our side who pay any attention to this at all understand sharia is incompatible with the Constitution and that a sincerely devout Muslim — I might say, a devout Islamist — cannot seriously give an oath to support the Constitution, because it’s incompatible with his faith.

So, John Boehner just up and quit. No seriously, he behaved just like everybody’s fat, racist friend on South Park Eric Cartman:

Jeb! does not like multiculturalism very much:

We should not have a multicultural society.

Well, that was emphatic.

God damn, Sarah Palin is a moron.

BTW, who hasn’t confused Leonardo da Vinci with Leonardo DiCaprio?

The Joni Ernst Watch 9/21/2015

When it comes to Joni “Make ‘em squeal” Ernst or Steve King it’s clown shoes all day, every day. Recently, the conversation in Iowa has turned away from our homegrown whack-a-doos and focused on the nutcase circus that will be the Republican caucus.

Consitution Day came and went on September 17^th…what, you did not throw a party? Steve King was not going to let the day go by without issuing a statement. Naturally, it was full of Republican word soup like founding fathers, God, Constitution, God, history, God…you get the idea.

Steve King apparently wants America to look like it did when the Constitution was signed over two hundred years ago. On a talk show with a host known for advocating the modern enslavement of refugees King said this on the demographics of immigration:

Tell me how you want America to look, because America’s being transformed because of immigration policy and I’m like Ann Coulter, I like the America we had.

What he is really saying is Republican code for “I want to see a white America.”

I wish that I could pull something positive out of Wednesday night’s Republican debate in California. Maybe Rand Paul’s surprisingly accurate statement that the Iraq War was a major mistake and the ramifications of that war are directly tied to the rise of ISIL…ISIS…whatever.

Donald Trump is a bully and a blowhard…and he is exactly who the Republicans deserve after years of coded phrases about liberals being “weak” or “European” or “kind of like the French.” You want a manly man? You got him now and it is a joy to watch. Never mind that this “manly man” has declared bankruptcy several times, is from New York City, and never served in the military. Just saying.

Someone let Chris Christie on the stage and he continued to lie. His favorite trope right now is to claim that he was appointed U.S. attorney on September 10^th, 2001. See, he was on the front lines right before the attacks of September 11^th. Oh wait, he was actually appointed U.S. attorney on December 7^th, 2001. It’s a few months difference, but isn’t that just a technicality among friends?

Let’s just chalk it up to a yelling match on the playground. It did give us some quality reaction shots though:

Nothing could prepare me for the horror of the post-debate “spin room” where Jezebel’s correspondent was brave enough to tread.

The Joni Ernst Watch 9/14/2015

When it comes to Joni “Make ‘em squeal” Ernst or Steve King it’s clown shoes all day, every day. Recently, the conversation in Iowa has turned away from our homegrown whack-a-doos and focused on the nutcase circus that will be the Republican caucus.

Steve King is really going after birthright citizenship. Now he seems to think that Congress can act to end the policy which is enshrined in an amendment to the Constitution:

The people who say that the Constitution has to be amended in order to end birthright citizenship are invariably the people who think it’s a good idea.

Rick Perry is out of the race. Not that he was ever really in the race, but he is out nonetheless. The Republican clown car made a stop at the Iowa-Iowa State football game on Saturday with Donald Trump, Ran Paul, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker attending a “tailgate.”

Joni was there and said she would not endorse any candidate, which really means that she does not want to pick a losing horse at this early stage. No one wants to be the person who backed Rick Perry. Or Jeb!

My favorite moment from the tailgate in Ames was the greeting offered to Donald Trump versus the one offered to Scott Walker. Trump was greeted like a rock star. Walker was essentially a non-entity as the raucous crowd cheered for Trump. Good luck governor white bread.

It’s not like Scott Walker would have said anything of substance since he takes three positions on every issue in order to appeal to every possible voter. He also does not like the hypothetical question “If you were president…?”

You know, it’s not like he’s running to be the leader of the freaking free world or anything.

Chris Christie is still in the race, but his polling suggests that he may be the next candidate to drop out because no one actually wants to see this man in the Oval Office. Why? Because he is a bully who has no grip on reality. When asked about his own comments on climate change he chose the bully route again and lied through his teeth.

Rick Santorum is apparently still running for the Republican presidential nomination, but he almost has to anymore because it is the only way that he stay relevant in the eyes of the chattering class that stays glued to Fox News for a dozen hours a day. You know, people like your retired uncle who screams about Hillary and the “liberals ruining America.”

Just like that uncle, Santorum does not like diversity in America.

He also does not believe in climate change because he is a moron.

Sarah Palin wants to be Trump’s Secretary of Energy. Would she quit halfway through his first term in order to star in a reality television show and appear on Fox News to vomit out some lukewarm talking points?

The truly saddest moment in the last week was when Mike Huckabee actually said that the precedent set by the Dred Scott decision was still the law of the land in the United States:

Because that’s their phrase, ‘it’s the law of the land. Michael, the Dred Scott decision of 1857 still remains to this day the law of the land which says that black people aren’t fully human. Does anybody still follow the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision?

Like Rick Santorum, Huckabee has a flimsy grasp of how American civics works. Dred Scott is not the law of the land because of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment. I realize that Republicans have a hard time with the Constitution once things get past the Second Amendment, but it would do them some good to actually read the entire document.

However, the lowest point of the week comes from Louisiana. In the effort to defund Planned Parenthood, because Bobby Jindal needs something to hang his hat on other than his actual record, legislators have claimed that there are 2,000 family planning providers willing to provide services in the absence of Planned Parenthood. Great, right? In the list of 2,000 family planning providers were included “ophthalmologists; nursing homes caregivers; dentists; ear, nose, and throat doctors; and even cosmetic surgeons.”

Come to Louisiana where your dentist can prescribe your birth control. Somehow I do not see that making it on to the welcome signs.

The Joni Ernst Watch 8/31/2015

When it comes to Joni “Make ‘em squeal” Ernst or Steve King it’s clown shoes all day, every day. Recently, the conversation in Iowa has turned away from our homegrown whack-a-doos and focused on the nutcase circus that will be the Republican caucus.

I do not know if Steve King is a betting man, but I would wager that he is wrong about Donald Trump’s odds of receiving the Republican nomination:

Trump is more likely to receive the Republican nomination than Hillary is to receive the Democrat nomination for president.

Of course, this is the same Steve King who said there was nothing for the United States to apologize for when it came to the issue of slavery.

In a world where Donald Trump is the leader in the clubhouse for the Republican Party it is hard to beat him for moron of the week, but Jeb! managed to pull it off. It looks like he decided to jump on the “anchor baby” bandwagon, but chose to lay blame at the feet of Asians:

What I was talking about was the specific case of fraud being committed where there’s organized efforts—and frankly it’s more related to Asian people—coming into our country, having children, in that organized efforts, taking advantage of a noble concept, which is birthright citizenship. I support the 14th amendment. Nothing I’ve said should be viewed as derogatory toward immigrants at all.

You have to wonder if Marco Rubio is just sitting back and hoping that all of these old white dudes out idiot each other.

Donald Trump is the unrestrained id of the right wing. He does and says things that people like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul want to but just cannot muster the courage to do. Just take his latest mocking of an immigrant group:

Negotiating with Japan, negotiating with China … (he then folded his hands over his middle).

“When these people walk in the room, they don’t say, ‘Oh, hello! How’s the weather? It’s so beautiful outside. Isn’t it lovely? How are the Yankees doing? Oh they’re doing wonderful. Great.”

(He then scowled dramatically.)

“They say, ‘We want deal!'” Trump bellowed.

Naturally, the crowd ate it up. Remember, Trump supporters are a lot like this guy who told Jorge Ramos to “get out of my country.” Never mind that Jorge Ramos is in his country because he is a U.S. citizen. Do you want to know who is really behind the Trump mania? Take a look at the cabal of lawyers behind ending birthright citizenship.

Maybe we just all fear the Trumpcabra.

Ted Cruz, feeling like Donald Trump has stolen all of his thunder, decided to take his own shot at Megyn Kelly because she deigned to ask him a question about his intentions if he were president.

I guess that is one of those “gotcha questions” that Sara Palin used to talk about all the time.

Scott Walker did not want Donald Trump to get all of the attention for being an idiot when it comes to immigration. Walker decided it was high time to get tough on Canada by building a wall:

They raised some very legitimate concerns, including some law enforcement folks that brought that up to me at one of our town hall meetings about a week and a half ago. So that is a legitimate issue for us to look at.

Legitimate? Really? Give Scott Walker a week and he will take three positions on any issue.

John Kasich has a lot of problems, not 99 but somewhere close to that, and his record with regard to education is just one of them. Apparently, Ohio charter schools were a sham that funneled money to private corporations at the expense of children’s education.

Bobby Jindal is running for president. Does anyone remember that? As the ten year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina rolled around he wrote a letter to President Obama telling him not to mention climate change.

The Joni Ernst Watch 8/24/2015

When it comes to Joni “Make ‘em squeal” Ernst or Steve King it’s clown shoes all day, every day. Recently, the conversation in Iowa has turned away from our homegrown whack-a-doos and focused on the nutcase circus that will be the Republican caucus.

Steve King thinks that Donald Trump is the best:

I think today he is the leader on immigration. There’s no question about that.

You have to wonder when the right wing of the right wing is going to snap out of its Trump mania. It might never actually happen. However, Steve King is right there with Trump when it comes to getting extreme on immigration and citizenship:

The people who say that the Constitution has to be amended in order to end birthright citizenship are invariably the people who think it’s a good idea — and those who think it’s a good idea generally are the beneficiaries of it.

No, the people who say you need to amend the Constitution are legal scholars who understand how the U.S. federal system works.

But at least Steve King found time to dig into a stick of deep fat fried butter at the Iowa State Fair.

Scott Walker, who has watched his early momentum in Iowa be usurped by the Donald, apparently does not want reporters asking any tough questions. Walker now has his staff screen questions before anyone is allowed to ask anything.

John Kasich, competing with a whole bevy of second tier candidates trying to get some spotlight, went al Chris Christie and attacked public teachers. Apparently, the problem with our public school system is unions and teachers’ lounges:

I’ll tell you what the unions do, unfortunately too much of the time. There’s a constant negative comment, ‘They’re going to take your benefits, they’re going to take your pay.’ So if I were, not president, but if I were king in America, I would abolish all teachers’ lounges, where they sit together and worry about, ‘Woe is us.

Carly Fiorina, who is apparently still running for the Republican nomination, wants to get in on some bashing of poor people and laws designed to provide a floor on how bad businesses can treat vulnerable workers:

We are crushing them under the weight, the complexity, the cost, the power of a federal government that frankly advantages the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and is crushing the small and the powerless. Every time we destroy a small business or we destroy a community bank, we are destroying the opportunity for someone to get that first job, learn skills, and get a better job.

We are really crushing companies that are making lots of money while people are on government assistance because wages have stagnated.