What happened yesterday on Capitol Hill – or, to be more precise, what didn’t happen yesterday – was classic MAGA nihilism, a vivid demonstration of the destruction being wrought on democracy by the Visigoths who are vandalizing our way of life.
But to best contextualize what took place, on the eve of yet another Republican-driven government shutdown, we first need to hear from the President of the United States. He was in Arizona yesterday, to help dedicate a John McCain library, and he had this to say:
“There is no question that today’s Republican Party is driven and intimidated by MAGA Republican extremists. Their extreme agenda, if carried out, would fundamentally alter the institutions of American democracy as we know it…Extremists in Congress (are) more determined to shut down the government, to burn the place down than to let the people’s business be done.”
Righto. We need only review what transpired yesterday at the House GOP’s fascist-adjacent clown show.
There we were, barely 60 hours away from a highly likely government shutdown that’s being ginned up by the most demented MAGA extremists – a shutdown that, among other things, would deprive 2,000,000 military servicemen and women of their paychecks – and you’d hope that maybe they’d realize how nuts it would be to let the clock run out and leave Uncle Sam in the lurch.
But no. Instead they spent six of those precious hours in crackpot kangaroo court, staging their Joe Biden impeachment scam.
And worst yet, as the shutdown clock ticked down, they failed to present a scintilla of actual evidence that the president has committed any high crimes and misdemeanors. The kind of evidence that normally is gathered before a formal impeachment inquiry is launched. In fact (and this was perversely delicious), they got publicly sandbagged by one of their own key witnesses.
They’d invited their favorite go-to law professor, Jonathan Turley, a guy who has often been able to concoct rationales for anything MAGA Republicans wish to do. But here’s what he said into the witness mic:
“I do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of impeachment.”
His assessment dovetailed nicely with what another law prof said. Michael Gerhardt, who appeared at the Democrats’ invitation, schooled the dolts on the panel: “Courts have held that House investigative committees must have legitimate purpose. A fishing expedition is not a legitimate purpose. (A dearth of evidence) as a basis for this inquiry is not sufficient. I say that with all respect.”
The hearing was such a waste of valuable time that even a Fox News host aired his disgust. Neil Cavuto shared this with the sheep at home: “I don’t know what was achieved over these last six-plus hours…None of the expert witnesses today presented yet any proof for impeachment…None of the witnesses testified to any direct knowledge of what Republicans have been claiming about Joe Biden…We just got a lot more smoke…after months of Republican probes that have failed to provide anything resembling concrete evidence.” He was seconded by another Fox Host, Steve Doocy, who confessed on the air that House Republicans “don’t actually have any facts…There’s no evidence that Joe Biden did anything illegally.”
Meanwhile, the sand in the shutdown hourglass continues to drain – thanks to handful of House extremists who hail from safe red districts and who are thus largely insulated from the havoc that a shutdown would wreak on millions of lives.
As the late humorist P. J. O’Rourke once quipped, “Republicans are the party that says that government doesn’t work, and then they get elected and prove it.” And that was long before the MAGAts came along to gnaw our institutional woodwork.
All of which brings us back to President Biden’s Thursday speech. And, by the way, enough with the whining that he’s “too old” (Too Old is the new But Her Emails). Just heed his message:
“The MAGA extremists across the country have made it clear where they stand. So the challenge for the rest of America – for the majority of Americans – is to make clear where we stand. Do we still believe in the Constitution?…Democracies can die when people are silent, when they fail to stand up or condemn the threats to democracy…We can’t take democracy for granted.”