Geldings Never Bolt.
Republicans will never leave Trump.
There is a well-funded industry of analysts, talking heads and former republicans who regularly insist that “This time is different!” that “This is the moment Republicans will stand up to Trump!”. They make a career raising our hopes that Trump is losing power over his caucus because of this poll or that issue and that each new outrage will be the outrage that forces them over the edge.
They never will.
The most recent case was the “Weaponization Fund” Trump’s slush payout for those who attacked Congress on January 6th 2020 and who will do it again. Republicans grumbled when he pardoned them but they did nothing. Now Republicans have been willing to speak against it openly. Tillis, Paxton, and Cassidy (all retiring) said it was wrong. Thune called it a “distraction.” And even Susan Collins is once again concerned.
Cassidy even filed a legal brief.
So one would think they were opposed. But yesterday’s vote should erase any doubt. Yesterday every amendment every one that would have limited or restricted the fund was defeated along party lines. Even a simple amendment to block payouts to anyone who attacked police officers was blocked. All of them fell by the exact 1 vote margin that congressional leadership uses to kill minimum wage increases and public health. This time the rotating villains included Tillis, Cornyn, and Cassidy all of whom swore they were against it and would absolutely do something about it, just not today.
Think about what this means.
The same members of congress who hid behind barred doors while congressional police defended them, are on board with their attackers getting paid. The man who came armed with zip ties, the man who brought a confederate flag where even Lee could not go, the man who erected a noose, the thugs who beat cops with an American flag and crushed their heads will all get paid.
But not the police who sought to defend our democracy, that amendment was blocked too.
So yes they say they are concerned. They even performed concern with a roll call. But at the end of the day even the people with Nothing Left To Lose even people like Mitch McConnell are on board with paying off their attackers so they will stand ready to do it again.
No doubt they will defend their decision because the funding bill is “urgent”, but that only makes it worse. Because what the bill offers is $70 billion more money for an agency that already received $85 billion less than a year ago. ICE is the highest funded agency, it is an unhinged paramilitary force with mass internment camps and masked thugs all of whom stand at Trump’s command. So not only are they fine with bribing the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, they also want to give them more weapons for the next time around.
All of their opposition is an empty show since they refuse to take the one action with any substance and since their primary goal is subsidizing more assaults. Even Cassidy’s legal brief means nothing since it does nothing more than ask someone else to solve the problem.
Republicans are a cult, and because of them Congress has no meaning. We cannot shout at them loud enough to stop this from happening, and we must assume they will attack again. What we can do is to stop wasting our time, attention, and money on those who promise us that there is something good left, some ounce of redemption coming for Republicans, and for those who expect us to clap for their poses of concern. We must stop getting high on the bipartisan hopium that “this time will be different.”
It won’t.
They are not concerned, they may be complicit, they are false, they are impotent, and scared, but they are also in on the game. When Trump directs Bill Pulte to corrupt the election and when his paid thugs attack polling places they may make some noise but they will go along. They will never take action to stop him and hoping for something else is just another con.
I have no short term answer for this. I know that the answer is not just to “Vote Blue No Matter Who”, Polis and Spanberger have demonstrated that. But I do know that all the Republicans even those brave enough to tell the truth are a lost cause and we should stop letting them and their apologists spit on us and insult our intelligence.