The president is politically weak and mentally feeble.
The nation hungers for a change and even most Democrats are able to abandon Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Within the Senate, Dems maintain a one-vote margin, however one member has simply been indicted on explosive federal expenses and one other exhibits severe signs of dementia.
A 3rd insists on carrying shorts and sweatshirts on the Senate flooring, so to maintain him comfortable and current, the bulk chief eradicated the costume code.
In the meantime, many city areas have been besieged by crime and overrun with tent cities earlier than Biden’s open-border coverage let in hundreds of thousands of unvetted, unlawful crossers needing meals, shelter and well being care.
Dystopian scenes from sea to shining sea ought to translate into glory days for Republicans within the Home of Representatives.
They’ve a majority of simply 5 votes, however maintain the whip hand at a time when Democrats’ insurance policies on the financial system, inflation, crime and immigration are wildly unpopular.
However as a substitute of seizing the second, the Home GOP is engaged in a round firing squad, decided to grab defeat from the jaws of victory.
Their incapacity to unite round a primary obligation — passing a price range — makes it look as if they’re unable to manipulate.
The potential of a authorities shutdown doesn’t appear to concern a few of them.
Their timing is awful.
Along with the administration’s rampant failures, there’s clear proof the president participated in his household’s influence-peddling schemes.
That makes Biden not solely a liar but additionally a compromised commander in chief as a result of funds of many hundreds of thousands of {dollars} got here from a rogue’s gallery of America’s foes — China, Russia and crooked Ukrainian oligarchs.
But the pending impeachment inquiry, together with every little thing else, now takes a again seat to the specter of a shutdown.
It’s a “clown present” one member of Congress says.
One other calls it “dysfunctional” — and each are Republicans speaking about their celebration!
Speaker’s frustrations
Even Speaker Kevin McCarthy is flummoxed.
“It’s irritating within the sense that I don’t perceive how anybody votes towards bringing the thought up and having the controversy,” he stated of final week’s spending invoice failures. “This can be a entire new idea of people that simply need to burn the entire place down. That doesn’t work.”
For Democrats, it’s a present from the gods.
Their media handmaidens are delighted to vary the topic from coverage failures and Biden corruption to the Republicans’ incapacity to operate.
The price range holdouts have been simply 5 eventually depend.
One is GOP Rep. Ken Buck, from Colorado, who wrote a Washington Publish op-ed to air his grievances towards the impeachment effort.
After the Democrat-sounding screed appeared, Steven Nelson, a New York Publish colleague, revisited stories that Buck was looking for a TV gig so he might go away Congress.
Buck confirmed his purpose, telling Nelson that “I’m serious about speaking to of us at CNN and different information organizations — on the, I don’t need to name them left, however type of center-left — and having a possibility to try this full-time or try this as a contributor can be nice additionally.”
Maybe conscious he was pigeon-holing himself as a critic of his personal celebration — the one type of Republicans CNN likes — Buck known as Nelson once more to say he additionally would have an interest able at right-leaning Fox Information or Newsmax.
“I didn’t need to provide the impression that I’ve solely talked to of us at CNN, on the left. I’ve additionally talked to others about this,” Buck stated.
How beneficiant of him!
Buck’s pathetic seek for a brand new profession apart, the holdout caucus does have a strong argument.
Utilizing persevering with resolutions to quickly fund the federal government normally morphs into huge omnibus spending payments that no person has time to learn earlier than passage.
The sloppy course of, which smothers any rational debate about cuts, is a significant contributor to giant annual deficits and the unsustainable nationwide debt, which not too long ago topped $33 trillion.
The burden of slicing falls on Republicans as a result of Democrats usually consider the extra spending the higher.
One results of these dynamics is that essentially the most frugal Home Republicans are sometimes at battle with their chief and colleagues over each cuts and course of.
They drove John Boehner into retirement and Paul Ryan was depressing sufficient to stop Congress after serving lower than two full phrases as speaker.
McCarthy has had a traditionally tough trip from the beginning, needing 15 ballots to win the job in January.
The general public humiliation ended solely when he bargained away some energy and Donald Trump received on the cellphone to steer holdouts.
Dem do’s and don’ts
With a number of the identical January refuseniks the reason for McCarthy’s troubles now, and with Trump foolishly urging a shutdown, the comparability with Democrats is most instructive.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi additionally had a four-votetiny majority for the primary two years of Biden’s time period, however she didn’t have a fraction of McCarthy’s issues along with her members.
Even when the far-left “squad” of progressives had sufficient votes to scuttle Pelosi’s initiatives, time after time she discovered a solution to maintain them in line.
Republican leaders ought to be so profitable.
The excellent news is that some within the GOP are going public towards the celebration rebels who don’t know when it’s time to give up to the mathematics.
They embody two pissed off members from the Hudson Valley who have been elected final yr in districts Joe Biden received in 2020.
Marc Molinaro and Mike Lawler are particularly weak in ’24, and are threatening to work with Dems if the GOP can’t go a seamless decision.
Lawler advised NBC his Republican colleagues must face information.
“In a divided authorities the place you’ve got Democrats controlling the Senate, a Democrat controlling the White Home, there must be a realization that you simply’re not going to get every little thing you need,” he stated.
“And simply throwing a mood tantrum and stomping your ft, frankly not solely is it mistaken — it’s pathetic.”
Precisely.
Related Press has gone nuts…
Taking the tearjerker angle manner too far, the AP stories from Mexico: “Through the weeks it took Yeison and Niko emigrate from Venezuela towards the US, they navigated harmful jungles and over a useless physique. The 2 are so inseparable that Yeison bought his cellphone so each had sufficient bus cash to proceed their journey. Now as Yeison prepares to lastly enter the US, it’s doubtless he must go away Niko behind.”
“That’s as a result of Niko is a squirrel.”
The nice a-woke-ening
Reader Joseph Donnelly sees a Large Image, writing: “Let the document present that whereas People have been smoking dope and binge-watching Netflix, passionately exhorting their favourite sports activities groups to win whereas slammin’ beer ’n nachos, and mourning the passing of baby-boomer rock icons, . . . giving each participant a trophy, filling stadia to see Taylor Swift, feeling good about themselves due to gender transitioning and Roe v. Wade being overturned, sending ideas ’n prayers and ready for anyone else to do one thing, their nation was taken from them.”
