A Few Points of Light in the Black Abyss of the Republican Party in Trumpist Captivity
I have to thank my friend Amodovw for the title of my post today. Until I read his post, it was going to be “what happened to the Republican party’s moral fiber since Nixen” and was going to about how with Nixon and the Watergate Break-in and his antics to cover up that illegal invasion of the Democratic headquarters, the Republicans themselves finally reach the decision that they could not, and would not continue to cover for him and that basically, he was on his own. He then resigned and was pardoned by Ford and the disaster ended. trump, who many of us think was elected with outside help from Russian propaganda, and did far worse things, is catered to and covered for almost totally by the Republicans. So, I was going to say, what the heck happened to their decency.
Well, I did read Amodovw’s blog and realized that was too simplistic. Not too much so, and the general reality is the same, but there are more points of light than just Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, which was what I was first thinking.
Now, let’s be clear here. Nothing I am about to say is meant to indicate that I have gone soft on Republicans. They are still “the other party” to me, and none of the people here mentioned would get my vote unless perchance it was an election where only them and one other Republican was running. Otherwise, I would vote for the Democrats because they are the party of “the little guy” and have always been. They are not, of course, perfect. They too are forced to go trolling for money every few years. Sadly, it is the way our system is set up. To explain why I won’t vote for Republicans, all I have to do is mention Trickle Down Economics and the Tax Cut of 2017 which, once again, gave huge tax breaks to the richest of the rich that were proclaimed PERMANENT and a smaller amount to the average citizen set to run out by 2025…in others big breaks to corporations and the super-rich and a pittance to the people that actually keep the economy going.
With that, let’s talk about the points of light (dim as some of them are):
1. Michael Pence. Now, I am loath to give him credit because he only did his job. He actually obeyed the law, as was pointed out by Amodowv. If he had not, we would have a real mess and the democratic process would REALLY be in trouble. But compared to some people including those agitating for the Jan 6th insurrection, from their position, in Congress, he could have disobeyed the law, so I guess I have to give him credit.
2. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger: Who, despite being told, in effect, they might lose any power they had, were willing to join Pelosi’s committee to get to the bottom of the Jan 6th Insurrection/or as has been rightly pointed out by the policemen who were battered and beaten, and cussed at that day, the terrorists that attacked the Capitol. Here’s hoping they get to the bottom, even if it is the top (ie trump — which I think it is), and cause justice to be done.
Liz made a speech to kick it off and said that she was doing this because she is serving the Constitution and the peaceful transfer of power, which trump and his group on Jan 6th tried to prevent. She is clear that the Constitution with a peaceful transfer of power is the only way the United States can remain what we claim it is, a Democratic Republic.
3. The 35 Republican House members that voted to create the independent Commission to do the work that is now being done by nine people…7 democrats and 2 republicans.
4. Mitt Romney: for staying true to the Constitution and holding a person of his party to the law both on the first Impeachment and the Obstruction of Justice and on the second, which was basically inciting a terrorist attack on the Capitol.
5. The seven Republican Senators who voted to hold trump accountable for the fact that his people…people he had riled up with his Big Lie engaged in domestic terrorism on Jan 6, 2021. Those seven Senators are Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy (by the way: Cassidy is one of the two Senators from the state I live in, and this vote is the ONLY thing that I liked that I can remember that he has ever done), Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse, and Pat Toomey.
It is nice to know that seven senators and 35 house members of the Republican party are willing to put the Constitution and the legal, and clarified vote electing Biden, ahead of one angry man who wanted to maintain power even if the nation burned down as a result. That totals 42 points of light, better than 2, I guess. However, sad that it was only 42 and should be a much higher number but sadly some don’t seem to have a moral compass beyond animal instincts of wanting to stay in power. Oh, there are lots of Republicans who fought against trump’s power grab, but they are retired and don’t really have to do anything but talk which is good as an example of decency, but doesn’t have anything to do with the hands on part of the job.
