Mitch McConnell thinks America’s his “handmaiden”. When we get Moscow Mitch under oath, one thing we must ask the Treason Turtle is when exactly he signed onto the mission the RW money (the Kochs especially) assigned him: the hijacking of the federal judiciary. When specifically did Mitch agree to refuse President Obama (elected by clear MAJORITIES both times) the right to populate the federal bench the way We The People wanted him to. That’s why we elected him, you see — we wanted HIS choices because they reflect OUR choices. Mitch McConnell’s choice, on the other hand, reflect only the RW Money’s choices.
Strange… that doesn’t seem like “democracy”. I doubt it’s coincidental.
If you want to know just how cynical the Republicans are about the future, just look at how they’re trying to shove Amy Barnett down America’s unwilling throat — like we were a “handmaiden” or something. Their gamble is this: a nine-member SCOTUS, dominated 6-3 by arch conservatives will (somehow) keep Donald Trump in power, destroy the ACA permanently and make abortion & reproductive rights a state-by-state fiasco. They seem to believe that if they can accomplish those things, their work will have been worthwhile.
Boy, is it going to suck to be them.
Ironically, it’s the RW’s fear of socialized anything that will hasten the arrival of socialized everything. Their assault on the ACA will make universal single payer, Medicare-for-all a necessity. Their catastrophically bad reaction to the pandemic made it inevitable. In the face of a pathogen like the coronavirus, we can only be as healthy as the least healthy among us. Everyone needs access to health CARE — as opposed to health insurance. As I’ve said here ad nauseum: America has a health INSURANCE system rather than a health CARE system. The first question we ask anyone walking in the door isn’t “How can we fix you?”, it’s “How’re you gonna pay for this?”
That is inhumane. It’s disgusting. But that’s what the Republican Party wants for America.
As the Reagan years drew to a close, the RW money recognized they had a problem. A diversifying America would, eventually, they realized, overwhelm them demographically. When that day came, white people’s hold on political power would begin to erode. The Kochs, the Mercers et al were not going to let that happen (because power equals money). The RW money — being damned smart — saw that the executive branch was pretty much gone. Take away Bush v Gore — where Antonin Scalia’s one-time, originalist-ignoring intercession into the 2000 presidential election handed the election to Bush — and Trump’s dubious win and the Republicans haven’t won the White House since Reagan. The RW money wrote off holding the presidency.
Congress was trickier. The House — being the most direct link to citizens — can be mercurial. If you’re trying to create permanent minority rule, the US House of Representatives would be your giveaway. The other side can have it (if you can’t). The real deal is holding the Senate. McConnell is betting he can hold the Senate forever. He has to or the rest of the plan falls apart.
Too bad the Senate’s about to slip from Mitch’s grasp. States like Texas and Alaska are suddenly competitive with Democrats within the margin of error or, at worst, “margin of error adjacent”. The Senate flipping will screw up everything for Mitch — even worse than losing the White House. The White House can be isolated. The POTUS can be reduced to a figurehead spouting shit in a perpetual loop.
Losing the Senate will make losing the judiciary another inevitability. Mitch knows he’s violated plenty of laws to get where he is. When under oath, we’ll also need Mitch to answer why he was so determined to get that $400 million dollar Russian aluminum factory built in West Kentucky. Yeah, yeah — jobs. Whatever. Except Mitch doesn’t give a damn about jobs. Or Kentuckians.
Mitch cares about himself. He cares about his sugar daddies. He cares about remaining Senate Majority Leader. He cares about being under oath — and paying the penalty for lying while there. He cares about not dying in prison, old, broken, hated and incontinent. Unfortunately for Mitch, Karma feels differently.
Take this to the bank: the Democrats absolutely WILL alter the size of the SCOTUS — because circumstances (including the Republicans’ overtly criminal behavior) demand it. Their guide should be America. Our final arbiter needs to look like US — and not just one part of us. If it takes adding another 100 seats in order for the SCOTUS to more accurately reflect us, they we need to do it.
At the end of the day, Republicans really want to have the judiciary in their grasp because they love judging us. That’s what hypocrites are best at — judging other people for the same behavior they themselves are guilty of. And nothing ices the cake of a judgmental Republican’s judginess than having a giant, red cherry of hypocrisy right on top of everything.
Judge a Republican and their head explodes. Judge a whole “party” of Republicans (that’s the collective name for them — “a party” or “a corruption” — “a corruption of Republicans” also works) and you get a 4th of July fireworks display. In Moscow.
Republicans live to judge the rest of us. At least, they used to. They’re about to live the rest of their lives being judged — and not by scolds either: by the rule of law.
Just as Republicans know nada about anything, they know nada about how judging really works. If they pay attention to what happens to them, they’ll learn.