I'm not entirely in the mood to discuss the Shitgibbon's attempt tonight to use the excuse of a Presidential campaign to avoid DOJ prosecution, so I'll discuss the entire act of party implosion happening for the Republican Party this post-midterms.
While the Republicans reaped huge gains in Florida thanks to DeSantis' gerrymandering and the state Democrats' ineptitude, the national party didn't do so well. High expectations of a "Red Wave" - bolstered by historical trends of the President's party suffering in midterms (at least since the 1960s) - turned into a self-immolated debacle of bad Far Right candidates losing key races. Instead of gaining 25 seats in the US House, Republicans are looking at either missing control (there are still two-three seats that can favor Dems) or gaining the House with the slimmest margin in modern history (which would embolden the wingnut factions to make impossible demands on the Speakership).
It got worse in the Senate, where the GOP were expecting to break the 50-50 deadlock - which favored Democrats with Vice President Harris as the tiebreaker - by flipping Senate races in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada to their favor. Instead, they lost those races leaving the Dems at that 50-50 advantage, with one outstanding recount for the Georgia race where Dem incumbent Warnock ought to outgain the hypocritical and addled Republican challenger in Herschel Walker. Dems should count on having a 51-seat majority in 2023 that should improve their ability to free up legislation from Senatorial gridlock.
There's a lot of anger among the Republican ranks, with finger pointing and accusations in every direction. Even their standard bearer trump got attacked because he pushed a number of extremist candidates who mostly flamed out, killing the "Red Wave" narrative. Other factions are lashing out at the existing party leadership, using this opportunity to seize the reins of power for their own greedy ambitions.
This is where Rick "Medicare Fraud" Scott enters the picture. He is openly challenging Republican stalwart Mitch McConnell for party leadership in the Senate. Via Brian Slodysko and Mary Clare Jalonick at AP News:
Florida Sen. Rick Scott said Tuesday that he will mount a long-shot bid to unseat Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, opening the latest front in an intraparty battle between allies of McConnell and former President Donald Trump over the direction of the GOP following a disappointing showing in last week’s midterm elections.
The announcement by Scott, who was urged to challenge McConnell by Trump, came hours before the former president was expected to launch a comeback bid for the White House. It escalated a long-simmering feud between Scott, who led the Senate Republican’s campaign arm this year, and McConnell over the party’s approach to reclaiming a Senate majority...
It should be noted that Scott is a junior member of the Senate, having been elected into the seat back in 2018. There are a number of other Senators with more seniority some of whom aren't in Mitch's corner on this, and part of me wonders why they're not making this move.
Because Rick Scott is a goddamn hypocrite on this challenge. Scott was the one in charge of the campaign financing this midterms, and he's the one who failed to keep a lot of those Senate campaigns afloat, squandering money on his own self-promotion. If anyone among the current GOP Senate ranks deserves most of the blame, it's Rick "What Part of Fraud Did You Overlook" Scott. I mean, I wrote this back in August:
The other thing mentioned in that WaPo article is how Scott has been spending a lot of the party's money on himself, filming his own campaign spots - even though he's not running this cycle, his so-called buddy Marco Rubio is instead - as though he is the only one who matters. Scott also pushed out - against the advice of other party leaders - a policy agenda for Republicans that was a mix of "Contract On America" calls to patriotism, vague promises of culture war victories, and slashing popular federal social programs like Social Security.
If Scott thinks any of this is going to help him run a Presidential primary in 2024, he's not only a crook he's a goddamned idiot...
Rick Scott is quickly showing his true nature: A self-serving creature looking to put himself above others at their expense. Granted, you can say that about half the Senators who ever served in that capacity, but Scott is making himself far worse - well, okay, he's at par with Ted "Cancun" Cruz now - than any of them.
None of the other Senators should back Scott on his power play, because all it will do is expose them to the dangers of allowing this fraud to keep ripping them off for his own benefit.
And yet they will, because donald trump is backing Rick Scott, and for all the blame and public denouncing trump's been getting, the second he demands the party fealty he will get it because they dare not antagonize the MAGA voting base still in love with that con artist.
If Mitch McConnell has anyone to blame, it's himself. Through his long game of obstruction - to ensure a packed Federalist Society judiciary and a twisted conservative Supreme Court - McConnell pandered to the Far Right elements of the GOP that's now turning on him. He may not be at fault for the Republicans' failures to retake the Senate this cycle, but he did little to stop the avalanche of disaster to roll over them in the first place.
It will be interesting to note how this coup attempt in the GOP Senate plays out, who will side with Scott - and allow a known fraud to take over their entire Senatorial operations - and who will side with McConnell - who is honestly aging out and ought to step aside for "younger" leadership to assume a new direction - for the upcoming acts of obstruction and cruelty the GOP can inflict on the nation.
Personally, I'm rooting for that comet we keep hoping will hit the Far Right wingnuts and wash their toxins into the sea.
Update (the very next day!): Well that was quick. McConnell squashes Scott's coup attempt with a quick vote 37-10 with one abstaining. Now the fun is going to be watching how Mitch kicks Rick Scott off every committee and isolate him from every GOP fundraiser for the next four years.
Update (11/21/22): Thanks to Batocchio for adding me to this Monday's Mike's Blog Round-Up at Crooks & Liars! But Bato, my man, my brah, my mentor, you gotta give me a heads up if you want to add me to a Round-Up. I need to set the table and bake a cake! (also places the Silver trophy for Nonfiction Blogging on the table)
(I gotta crow a little...)
2 comments:
It's somewhat ironic that McConnell's theft of a SCOTUS seat was instrumental in denying him another go at majority leader. He may not like the image the GOP has saddled itself with these days, but he did his part in creating it.
He does, however, know how to do his job, and the Scotts and Cruzes have shown little in understanding the political benefits of that.
With any amount of luck, they'll find out soon.
-Doug in Sugar Pine
And to think: The political cannibalism is a mere sideshow to what corporate America is doing to employees and customers. The occupants of the Republican clown car are "useful idiots" in the concentration of wealth and real power.
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