Republicans are cheering the demise of their own party

| 12:01 pm EST March 2, 2021
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Are all Republicans being eaten alive by a snake in the grass, or just the minority of Washington Republicans who have been lauded in the media as “voices of reason” simply because they apparently believe in Democracy, were duly horrified enough by the insurrection to vote to impeach or convict Trump, have actually spoken the truth a few times, and/or they no longer embrace Trumpism and all the craziness that goes along with it? (These are pretty low bars to set as being ethical politicians we want to have governing us.)

There’s good arguments for both scenarios. When Trump announced at CPAC that he was not going to form a third party, everyone responded with cheers. Were they cheering the death of their own party? Trump also named his enemies in the GOP, many of whom have have been censured by their own party, so it’s easy to identify them as victims even though they could well end up being the only political survivors, whether it’s within the GOP or a new party.

I would argue that most Republicans who have appeared to be voices of reason at one time or another are snakes in the grass themselves. Mitch McConnell is an easy example. But not only did none of the House Republicans vote for Biden’s Covid relief bill (and none are expected to in the Senate), they are falsely claiming it is a totally partisan bill Biden didn’t seek their input on at all. Sen. Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump, said as much in a recent interview with CNN. Biden’s first meeting with any Congressional members was with 10 Republicans seeking just that, yet Cassidy called it “a joke.” Biden obviously listened because he substantially reduced the maximum income for those receiving stimulus checks. Biden also waited longer than many think he should have to receive reasonable Republican counter-proposals. Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans, including Republicans, want and need this relief ASAP, Congressional Republicans simply do not care.

So even though it’s easy for Democrats to be impressed when they actually see a Republican speaking the truth about anything these days, most all Washington Republicans have been part of the Trump propaganda machine at one time or another, and it lives on to this day, along with their heavy obstruction tactics. Washington Democrats need to remember who they’re dealing with.