in the spirit of Super Bowl week, the first NFL team I ever followed was the Houston Oilers. As an Air Force brat, “home” had many meaning for me, but as much as anywhere I was raised in Houston and have been a lifelong fan of Houston’s sports team. When the Oilers left, I stopped following the NFL. Years later, when I was attending college in St. Louis, the NFL crossed my path again. The LA Rams moved to town and even won a Super Bowl. Shorty thereafter, they left, and I have not followed the NFL since. Still, I know what it looks like to fumble at the goal line and that’s exactly what Republicans in the US Senate and House of Representatives did this week.
For reasons that defy logic, the Republican Party has decided to let a failed former president and a handful of ignorant insurrectionist members dictate the direction of the Party. They spent much of the past three years trying to find some reason to impeach President Joe Biden. Failing that, they went after his son, who has never even run for public office, and they failed there, too. More recently, they tried to hold funding for our allies in Ukraine and Israel hostage to their ideas of what southern border security should be … and when a bi-partisan team of senators offered up a Republican dream border overhaul they dropped the ball on that one, too.
Does this strike you as a team desperately in need of a new quarterback? It certainly does me. Then again, I’m the one who, in May of last year, wrote that Republicans should try serving their constituents instead of lining up behind their own unpopular and self-serving ideologies. Unfortunately, they are doubling down on those misguided ideologies.
In this most recent failure, I initially thought it might have been a brilliant defensive strategy by the Democrats that forced the turnover, but the more I read about it, the more I think the Republicans beat themselves. Democrats are flexible, progressive, they have science and, often, logic on their sides and they legitimately want to fix things that need fixing. The Republicans are more about strategy, messaging and tactics designed to them make themselves richer and to keep them in power.
How’s that working out?
A record number or people turned out to make sure Donald Trump didn’t get a second term in the White House, the 2022 mid-terms pushed the balance of power back towards Democrats and the things Republicans were hoping to use to make their case for 2024 are falling apart. Economy? Well, it turns out that the US has recovered from the global pandemic faster than any other country. The stock market has reached record heights, unemployment is non-existent and our trade deficit is the lowest it’s been in decades. Ending Roe vs. Wade? Oops. Women swung wide left of them in the mid-terms, even in the staunchly red states. Turning America into a Theocracy? Nope. That betrayal of the Founding Fathers is not gaining traction, either.
The other thing Trump was counting on as a lynchpin was the border “crisis.” When it came out that a Republican-led bi-partisan bill was nearly ready for primetime, he began to assert pressure on Republican lawmakers to torpedo the bill. The “Secure the Border” act went down in flames yesterday despite it’s strong right-leaning language (read it HERE). In essence, Democrats agreed to give Republicans what they wanted and the Republicans killed it anyway.
Typical.
In this case, a Jerry Sloan adaptation of a Napoleon Bonaparte quote comes to mind. The long-time Utah Jazz head coach used to tell his team, “When the other team is beating themselves, don’t interrupt them.” That should be the unified message coming from Democratic leadership across the board now. The Republicans are beating themselves; don’t interrupt them.
“Every day, between now and November, the American people are gonna know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends,” President Biden said following the news of the bill’s failure. Now Biden is said to be exploring his options in terms of an executive action that would secure the border. Whatever he does in response, this is another issue off the table for his scheming opponent.
At what point does it sink in?
Apparently not any time soon. After a failed (baseless) attempt to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Republicans are planning another impeachment vote next week. It looks kind of silly to be impeaching him for not securing the border even as your own party blocks bi-partisan legislation that would do just that.
Republicans are working overtime to beat themselves. Democrats should call them on it in front of every microphone they can find. They are being shown a path to push obstructionists and insurrectionists out of power…and they should seize it with every last ounce of strength they possess.
The American people are counting on them…even the ones who don’t recognize that fact.
-B
Ishmael's Legacy 