The Republican Party reminds us every day how expensive it is “doing nothing”. In the face of a massive, demonstrable problem – like, say, climate change – the GOP’s invariable response to the cost of addressing it is “do nothing”. That supposes that doing nothing costs nothing. But that’s about the most false economy there is. Doing nothing always costs something. At the end of the day, doing nothing almost always turns out to be the most expensive option of them all.

Another primo example of Republicans preferring to do nothing – Donald Trump.

All along the way – since Trump first descended that golden escalator – The GOP’s Trump strategy was “do nothing” or, at best, next to nothing. Remember all those bizarre Republican debates back in 2015 and 2016? At any time, any of Trump’s competitors could have lowered the boom on Trump’s corruption. They could have done what former New Jersey governor and ex-Trump sycophant Chris Christie is doing right now. Oh, sure, a few of them tried to fire back at Trump but Trump always held a strange sway over the party.

It’s All About Treason

I’ve long postulated here that there’s a reason for this that has nothing to do with Trump’s base and everything to do with treason.

On June 25, 2016, current Speaker Of The House Kevin McCarthy exited one meeting and entered another. At the first meeting – an intelligence briefing – McCarthy learned that Vladimir Putin was actively engaged in undermining Ukraine’s fragile, new democracy. Upon entering the second meeting (of GOP leaders) – fresh intelligence in hand – McCarthy said “There’s two people I think Putin pays – Rohrbacher and Trump – swear to God!”

Now, everyone present – GOP leaders – knew for a fact that indeed California Representative Dana Rohrbacher was deep in Russia’s pocket (and had been for a long time). But, up until that point, no one had said out loud (on the record – someone recorded this meeting – that’s how we know about it!) that Putin and Russia had also compromised Trump. The GOP’s about-to-be presidential nominee.

“That’s How We Know We’re Family”

Strange thing? Not a single GOP leader contradicted McCarthy. No one questioned this terrible assertion or demanded he prove it. According to the Washington Post: “House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy”.

Wait, what? Secrecy? About the possibility that Trump wasn’t just corrupt, but corrupted by Putin?

WTF!

Later in the piece, reporter Adam Entous writes “Evan McMullin, who in his role as policy director to the House Republican Conference participated in the June 15 conversation, said: ‘It’s true that Majority Leader McCarthy said that he thought candidate Trump was on the Kremlin’s payroll. Speaker Ryan was concerned about that leaking’.”

That’s probably why Speaker Ryan shut the whole conversation down. Again from the WaPo: “Ryan instructed his Republican lieutenants to keep the conversation private, saying: “No leaks. . . . This is how we know we’re a real family here.”

A real mafia family maybe…

Doing Nothing = Doing Something

That’s not really “doing nothing” in this instance. It’s actually “doing something” – conspiring to commit treason!

For seven years, our press has asked the question “what is this hold Trump has over the Republican Party?” The sad truth is, our news media reported the answer long ago. Either they don’t read their own work or they don’t know how to aggregate a story.

The reason Trump had to resort to criminal behavior in 2020 is because he’d resorted to it in 2016. Mark this down: Donald Trump has never been the legitimate President of the United States. You cannot accept any assistance from a foreign country – especially one that’s hostile to us – and “win” election. Committing treason to win means you didn’t win!

For the whole four years of Trump’s corrupt presidency – as Trump took command of the GOP and turned it into him – the Republicans did nothing to stop Trump. Hell, most of them shrugged off his excesses because they liked how their bank accounts were benefiting. To them, doing nothing wasn’t just costing nothing, it was making them rich.

It’s All About Corruption

Corruption often motivates “doing nothing”. Doing something would stop the gravy train. My point – any time anyone helpfully suggests “doing nothing” will solve a problem, we better do a deep dive into that person – and pronto!

Even today – in Georgia – in light of DA Fani Willis’ massive indictment, some Georgia Republicans still wish that we’d just “do nothing”. That includes Georgia’s Secretary Of State Brad Raffensperger – who sits right in the sweet spot of Willis’ prosecution. That’s what they mean when they ask “can’t we just ‘get past this’?” as if ‘this’ was a parking ticket.

The cost of doing nothing re the climate? Castastrophe

And the cost of doing nothing re the Republican Party going full on nativist, authoritarian shithead? We may just welcome that first catastrophe.