No Direction Home

By David Glenn Cox

Every time the Republicans in Congress have pushed the country towards a phony debt crisis. They have paid the price for it at the ballot box. Because cultural suicide seems very popular with the base and more importantly, it’s popular with the kind of Republicans who own Supreme Court Justices. The big penguins pushing the little penguins towards the water to see if the walrus is still hungry.

Caught by the seat of their own pants. A default is a political and economic disaster for Republicans. As if America needed yet another reason to not vote for Republicans. But America’s favorite “Yes” man, Kevin McCarthy just can’t say “no.” So the Freedom Caucus (Rev. Jim Jones Republicans) stands on the rails smiling and daring the train to hit them.

While the tiny sane Republican Caucus chews on their fingernails alongside the tracks. If they pull this off, they will tank the economy. They will find themselves all alone. All alone economically socially, medically, scientifically and politically alone. Cutting VA funding isn’t very popular idea. Cutting funding for Section 8 homes isn’t popular with the Real Estate industry, let alone with landlords. Cutting the budget for Section 8 homes lowers their value and dries up the money for investment properties.

As the risk goes up the rewards, grow smaller and the value goes down. Now, who is it that invests in Real Estate? That would be your big banks and Wall Street. And the Republicans in Congress propose we destroy their business model. A poison pill which runs up a hill. Creating more homeless people which hurts the landlord that hurts the banks. Which also hurts Wall Street by dramatically lowering the values of investment portfolios by hundreds of millions of dollars in a single afternoon.

Let’s not forget section 8 was designed to do away with public housing projects. The idea was to let the private sector wet their beak. The private sector could do a better job than government, they said. Now government wants to pull the props out from underneath the private sector they encouraged to invest.

If the Republicans back down now they will be humbled before their base. If they stick it out, they face political suicide with Wall Street. VA cuts are also wildly unpopular across the board. Simple and uncomplicated. The type of thing voters can easily remember come November. Everybody knows a veteran. It’s not like, “how do you think you’ll vote on amendment 7B?”

The Trump follies are in town, and Trump’s deposition video is not to be missed. Trump was wearing a double thick coating of orange monkey shines giving him that all over orange raccoon look. But the backstage visual of Trump on the defensive and irritable is inciteful. Ambient arrogance and the benign simplicity of a man who thinks he’s smarter than everyone else. The fool who thinks he’s fooling someone when everyone in the room can see he’s not.

Half of the fake electors in Georgia have formed a choir and have decided to sing together in unison against the other half. That cannot be good news for Mr. Trump. It also can’t be good news for the other half of the fake electors. But that’s bound to bust loose sometime during the summer. That’s a real good look for the Republicans headed for the 2024 campaign. Their nominee is involved in election fraud while running for election. But maybe the reporters won’t ask him about it.

If Clarence Thomas hasn’t resigned by summer. The smell will be horrendous and cling to the room like smoke. How can he stay now? How can the court function now with Clarence on the bench? He becomes an absurdity of the smiling corrupt judge in his judicial robes and gavel. As absurd as putting Judge Judy on the Supreme Court. It becomes a farce and colors the Republican stew.

But as an epidemic of mass shootings continues unabated. Republican deflections sound thinner and thinner. A Texas Republican blames the lack of faith in God for the shootings. Your faith is lacking brother; this is all your fault. We should all pray harder. You just must believe if you want Tinkerbell to shine.

Marge Tater Greene calls it “Evil Forces” I guess that nails it. We must all just get a handle on those evil forces. Make up a specter or a boogie man and begin a war on evil forces. It displays either incredible ignorance or a contempt for the intelligence of others. Why didn’t we think of that? All we have to do is round up all the evil forces. A non-answer, if ever there was one.

But what did Kevin say? You don’t know, do you? Nobody does, and that’s part of the problem. Nobody cares what Kevin said. Not if Marge Greene is carrying a big helium balloon or talking about space lasers. Do you think those reporters got balled out for bringing back those stories? It’s a lot easier to get Marge to say something crazy than it is to wait on Kevin to say something smart. They’ll go for the low hanging fruit every time.

It’s either political suicide or political and economic suicide. It always sounds great cutting taxes and making government leaner. But sometimes people get angry when you cut vital programs no matter what they say. Because that tax money buys things provided by the private sector and smiting the private sector is never good politics. Huey Long said, it ain’t the taxes you pay it’s what get for them. Nobody ever complains when they open a new school or a park.

It doesn’t take a Svengali to see the hand writing on the tea leaves. The Republicans have no leadership, none, zip. Kevin and Marge and George Santos. After his fall brother Mitch is only a shell of his former self. The titular head of the Party would be Trump. But Trump’s titular head is overloaded with Trump and Trump problems. He’s busy sparring with law enforcement on three coasts.

Well, if Trump isn’t going to herd these cats, then that means the job falls to Kevin and we’ve already covered that subject. So, anyone can say most anything and Trump most likely will. And so, the Party can have no focus. The focus is Trump and that’s a lost ball in high weeds. Just everyone do your best Marge Tater Greene imitation and say something crazy for the folks at home! Stand on the rails as the train approaches smiling and see what you get.

“Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.” ― Franklin D. Roosevelt