It is hard not to slip and fall when stepping on the banana peel laden path of hypocrisy paved by the Republican Party. Marc Short, legislative affairs director for the White House accused Democrats of “weaponizing” the process and stalling the judicial nominees of Donald Trump. Wait, wait the scream you hear is Judge Merrick Garland. You remember him, the Supreme Court nominee ignored for 10-months under the Obama administration. Garland sat for 293 days without so much as a warm handshake from either Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), head of the Judiciary committee or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R-Ky).
When the rules don’t fit, you make ‘em quit…
The excuse used to block Garland’s earned consideration for the Supreme Court was the long-established Biden Rule—wait, wait, what, the Biden what? Mitch McConnell used the political gamesmanship of then-Senator Joe Biden’s (D-DE) words in 1992 to pull a rabbit out of his hat, or from somewhere else, and created a predicate to dash the hopes of a jurist who played by the real rules. Of course, there is no Biden Rule or two days before Pension Rule or Silence the Porn Star Rule but Republicans condone changes in the rules when they cannot win inside them.
I have heard all the clichés about politics not being bean bag or not for the weak of heart but has decency become the aberration and not the norm? Andrew McCabe has probably had some good and some bad days as a top cop, but no man who has tried to be decent deserves indecency. We even have oxymoronic rules for the decency of war. President Trump seems to enjoy humiliating his enemies, belittling his opponents and worse of all lying to friends. Ask Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The President is now pressuring the Republican Senate leaders to change the rules, so he might govern by edict. Mr. Trump often brags about the number of executive orders he has signed, bypassing Congress. You remember when governing by pen and phone was an Obama original sin? Routinely the former President was accused of running a “lawless’ regime with no rules.
If you take a look at Obama’s pen and phone legislation, he actually has a pretty good track record for making positive changes. Mr. Trump seems to be using his wildly exaggerated sharpie pen signature to exact his personal revenge on Obama’s legacy. From immigration, the environment, nuclear peace initiatives, and safety regulations, they all have been reduced to a thumb in the eye to Obama. With all the pragmatic evidence of the current President’s prurient interest in inflicting harm to his perceived enemies, I hope it serves as a warning. If Mr. Mueller is not forthcoming with a Presidential indictment, Democrats stung Republicans, Independents and those just tired of the daily lie machine should go to the polls in droves this November.
I am not crying phony tears for Andrew McCabe, he had his chance early in the process to testify before Congress and set a standard of ‘no more’ but he chose a skewed sense of duty. His reward, having his Republican President call his wife a “loser,” public humiliation and the possible ruination of his family’s future financial plans. At least he is married to a smart woman, she is a Democrat.
Vote in ’18 for Change