This Carbon Based Life

By David Glenn Cox

My but that was fast, she said. After 22 days of Indian wrestling and flinching contests we have a winner, sort of. All of a sudden, boom Mike Johnson. (Photo Unavailable) What happened to make this cream rise to a unanimous acclamation for speaker of the House? Where has Mike been oh, these past three weeks? Nice to know you were everyone’s first thought, after they couldn’t agree on anyone else. Of course, that’s it! Mike Johnson!

Did the non-MAGA Republicans collapse and capitulate allowing Trumpers into the corn crib? This is a victory for Donald Trump but a worn thin victory. We are on the threshold of one year out from elections and the constant monkey shines aren’t helping Republicans. The image of Republican Congressional dysfunction has replaced the image of choosing a speaker.

Mike Johnson (Photo Unavailable) Who? Mike Johnson takes the chair with even less power than Kevin McCarthy. I didn’t think that was possible either. Either a caretaker or another short timer. The Republicans may have quickly spackled over the cracks in the Party, but the cracks are still there. The clock is running out of time for their shenanigans.

And yes, Johnson is an election denier and a bigot. He’s Jim Jordan without the baggage and the attitude. The whole ugly package, only powerless. Nothing has changed but the name on the door. If the Republicans want to continue to act up, they do so at their own peril.

The margins haven’t changed, and the Republicans still remain the greatest threat to their own Party. All for the love of an old and dying scared mystery called Donald Trump mystic cult club.

Old Rusty got crusty in a courtroom dust up and it only cost Trump $10,000. Trump storms from the courtroom muttering “Unbelievable” to a prearranged spot to protest his ill treatment at the hands of the court for the cameras. “We didn’t even have a jury” because Trump’s crackerjack legal team didn’t ask for one. Everyone has a right to a trial by jury, but you gotta ask for one.

But for Trump bursting from the courtroom each day at 11:00 to bemoan his fate gets a little repetitive. And the media has a short attention span and the Trumpers? They already know and believe Rusty is being mistreated, but the cult is still dying. The cult won a victory today, but the cult is still dying. You’ll notice the lack of any NEW adherents seeking to join the sacred cause. The crowd is running the opposite direction.

There is a pressure to get something done to reverse the image of Republican dysfunction. Hence, Republicans pick a back bencher to lead them into the next election cycle. The Administration will push aid packages for Israel and Ukraine tied together. While the Republicans will try to break them apart. A dollar for you and a nickel for you.

The United States and the Middle East are on the cusp of a major war. Stunts and shenanigans could be especially dangerous, if something horrendously unfortunate were to occur as Republicans dithered around the cracker barrel, shucking for the cameras. The time for Republicans to dig in their heels and shut the government down is NOT NOW!

Never has a political party been so mortally wounded heading into an election cycle. The Trump legal saga has not just damaged Donald Trump’s campaign, but all the Republican campaigns. It has blown them right off the stage into purgatory with Hunter Biden’s laptop and the Impeachment inquiry of Joe Biden. Gone are the days of a Congressional agenda, now they’re just trying to make five o’clock.

The titular leader of the Republican Party is a multi-indicted fraudster and accused racketeer. Witnesses are flipping against him like pancakes at IHOP. Just exactly what are the chances Trump will be vindicated somehow between now and election day November next?  He won’t be vindicated; Trump will be the most tarnished candidate in American history ever to run for office.

Senate Republicans can read the tea leaves. Nothing coming out of the house, means nothing coming into the Senate. Mitt Romney called them out and Will Hurd also called them out. “Trump’s not running for office, Trump’s running from prosecution.” And he’s using the Republican house as his human shield and hostage. We’ve now reached the Ray bans and Kool-Aid stage.

Trump will now do his best to stymie Congress and if he leads the Republican Party to a massive and unprecedented defeat in November, so what? The eternal goal here is only to save Trump. But it is already too late to save Trump. Too damaged, too irascible, and out of control. The Frankenstein monster harried relentlessly from courtroom to courtroom across the countryside. “Fire & Justice Bad!”

This could be the Republicans last chance to get it together. Any outrageous legislation or obstructionist behavior could spell the end of the Republican majority of four with one of those four being George Santos.

So now comes Mike Johnson (Photo Unavailable) election denier, bigot, Christian Nationalist and seditionist and the plan is now what? Go back to investigating Social Media and Hunter Biden? Beat on those dead horses some more? The issue is Trump and will always be Trump! Trump’s plague might be the eventual end of the Republican Party. A parting of the ways.

“A house divided against itself can’t stand.”  – A. Lincoln

“We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.” – John F. Kennedy