I was originally going to post this to this thread, concerning the massing of the herd of RINOs, but thinking about, it A Big Game of Chicken just seems better. WaPo reports on the hiring of Julia Hahn, a Breitbart writer, by the Trump Administration. Why is this interesting?
When House Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s redbrick Georgian revival house in Janesville, Wis., was surrounded last July by women whose children were murdered by undocumented immigrants, conservative writer Julia Hahn published a scathing report and a blurry snapshot of Ryan’s departing SUV.
The headline: “Paul Ryan flees grieving moms trying to show him photos of their children killed by his open borders agenda.”
Three months later, Hahn wrote a 2,800-word story alleging that Ryan (R-Wis.) was the ringmaster for a “months-long campaign to elect Hillary Clinton.” It was just one of a torrent of posts over the past year that cast Ryan as a “globalist” who is cozy with corporations and an enemy of Donald Trump-style populism.
As noted in the previously mentioned link, Speaker Ryan is easily one of the most conservative members of the House, and certainly the most conservative Speaker in its history, so trying to RINO-ize him out of power is a little ludicrous. Yet, a leader in that RINO effort is now in the Trump Administration.
Privately, a number of House Republicans told The Washington Post that Hahn’s involvement signaled Bannon’s plans to possibly put her to use against them, writing searing commentaries about elected Republican leaders to ram through Trump’s legislative priorities and agitate the party’s base if necessary.
In other words, this is a bullying move, and so long as the GOP base believes in Trump, she may be a big club to use on GOPers reluctant to follow Trump’s lead.
Image: Foreign Policy Association
But Ryan may carry the doomsday weapon in this battle – he can begin the impeachment process, which would tar Trump with dishonor and even possibly boost him out, in favor of the more savory (to Ryan) Pence. We already have a report of Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a professor of Constitutional law, readying articles of impeachment, with the cause being the conflicts of interest caused by failure to divest from Trump’s business interests – but Raskin may be wise to wait a bit until the House leadership is fully unhappy with Trump.
Of course, while the House initiates the process, it’s the Senate that makes the final decision, and they are, in general, not so quick to come to judgment, as seen in the Clinton impeachment debacle. However, if there are more Russian revelations, they may not be so hesitant.
So this may just be an old-fashioned game of chicken. Will Ryan meekly follow Trump’s lead? Will Trump rein in his foaming at the mouth hired gun?
Or will we be treated to the popcorn event of an impeachment?
In any event, I think we’re continuing to see the disintegration of the GOP as the purists and power-mongers swarm. It’s just like a train wreck.
