berg80
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- Oct 28, 2017
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In Their Quest For Dominance, Republicans Break Government At All Levels
Just months into his dark horse speakership, Mike Johnson (R-LA) tries to scuttle across the same tightrope his predecessor toppled from, shepherding through the chamber, without sparking a mutiny, the bare minimum legislating Congress has to pass.
The dynamics are fundamentally unchanged from Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) brief tenure: Congress has to fund the government. A relatively significant chunk of House Republicans, given the extremely slim majority (which is getting slimmer all the time), won’t accept anything that deviates from their ideal, very parsimonious spending package loaded with far-right goodies. So the speaker is left with no choice but to make a deal with Democrats, leaving himself vulnerable to the ire of and possible ousting by his Republican colleagues.
“It’s reflective of a highly fractious party way more interested in performative indicators of power than the basic tasks of governing,” Seth Masket, professor of political science and the director of the Center on American Politics at the University of Denver, told TPM.
We now have a Republican Party where power, divorced of any cogent, animating policy aims, is king. Spectacle, muscle flexing, reflexive opposition and, most importantly, owning the libs, is the currency of the realm. That dynamic not only allows for no compromise, but makes compromise with Democrats a capital crime — even when that posture consistently leads to outcomes farther from this hard-right group’s stated goals, since they completely remove themselves from the negotiating table.
In Their Quest For Dominance, Republicans Break Government At All Levels
We now have a Republican Party where power, divorced of any cogent, animating policy aims, is king. Spectacle, muscle flexing, reflexive opposition and, most importantly, owning the libs, is the currency of the realm.
talkingpointsmemo.com
Open question for the board. Is there a single "animating policy aim" sought by the POT (Party of Trump) that is supported by a majority of Americans? One for which they are offering a clear solution, not vague talking points?