WATCH AND LEARN
Palmer Report always admonishes us not to panic over doomsday news of Republican antics. Instead, we should watch, listen, and learn. Republicans never listen, and they certainly never learn. The proverb, “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil,” has two opposing interpretations. One is the Buddhist warning to not dwell on evil thoughts to avoid temptation. The other refers to avoiding moral responsibility by turning a blind eye to evil.
House Republicans turned a blind eye to Louisiana Rep Mike Johnson’s Christofascist history and elected him Speaker. Republicans repeatedly turn a deaf ear to a majority of voters, and pass unpopular laws denying our Constitutional right to separation of church and state, to a well regulated militia, to privacy, and to vote. And Republicans dare not speak ill of Donald Trump, who, despite being criminally indicted FOUR TIMES this year, remains their de facto presidential nominee.
But Republican refusal to listen to voters is already working against them. Just last week a wave of local elections in deep red Tennessee went to Democrats. Also, Mike Pence didn’t reach out to moderates, forcing him to drop out of the Republican Presidential Primary race. And while it’s too early to take polls seriously, 52% of republican voters said they would not vote for Trump if he were in prison at the time of the 2024 election.
So far, in the week since Mike Johnson took the Speaker gavel, a slew of ugly scandals has already surfaced as his life is scrutinized. If Kevin McCarthy couldn’t survive one year as Speaker, it’s unlikely Johnson’s speakership will last a year, through election day November 5, 2024. If it does, it will work against Republicans, as will other Republican antics.
Johnson’s stance on abortion alone is a huge issue Democrats will campaign on. Tommy Tuberville continues to sow chaos within the GOP in a shocking display this week when he stood up 61 times refusing to confirm military promotions. Republican senator from Alaska Dan Sullivan said Tuberville was “100% wrong.” Even Republican villain Mitch McConnell is defying Johnson on funding for Ukraine, further loosening the House Speaker’s tenuous grip on MAGA Republicans as the debt limit deal expiration looms.
Rather than listening to voters and working on a platform to increase their election chances, Republicans are working to increase voter suppression, purging voters, and rigging congressional maps. The highly anticipated Ohio special election on November 7th to pass ISSUE 1, protecting an individual’s right to an abortion, will be another indicator of how Americans are responding to Republican antics. We will all be watching, listening, and speaking – with our votes.
Chicago native Lorraine Evanoff earned her degree in French from DePaul University then became a Certified Financial Manager. She worked as a finance exec in film production for seven years in Paris, then in Silicon Valley during the dot-com era, and later for various Hollywood production companies, notably as CFO of National Lampoon. She is currently living in Los Angeles with her husband.