I can’t help but be struck how it appears the GOP is running down the slide to self-destruction:
But what’s striking about all of this is what constitutes outrage among GOP lawmakers. Wyoming’s Liz Cheney denounced anti-election lies, so Republicans kicked her out of the party’s leadership. Illinois’ Adam Kinzinger joined a bipartisan investigation into the Jan. 6 attack, and he became persona non grata in his party. Thirteen members voted for a bipartisan infrastructure package, and now there’s talk of partisan retaliation against them, too.
In the meantime, those same House Republicans who demand consequences for perceived transgressions have a whole lot less to say about Arizona’s Paul Gosar, Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, Colorado’s Lauren Boebert, and other far-right members who actually deserve to be seen as scandalous extremists.
This isn’t a situation in which GOP members refuse to go against one of their own because of partisan loyalty. On the contrary, House Republicans are only too pleased to turn on their ostensible allies in response to ideological heresies that are considered unforgivable. [Steve Benen]
Outrage by the far-right extremists? Check. Punishing transgressions? Check. Whittling down the Party? Check. Cries for revenge?
The thirteen who voted for it surely voted on the policy, but on the strategy they gave the Democrats a win and a talking point. Ron Klain got to go on television and make the case the Democrats absorbed Tuesday night’s results and responded by passing the infrastructure plan to show they got the message. [Erick Erickson]
Check.
Parties contemptuous of compromise and dissent, that attitude being a signpost of the power hungry and politically immature, I think inevitably decline and fall as the variances in opinion on the difficult subjects of governance and reelection come to the fore – or those attitudes and members are ejected from the party.
I’ve been saying it for years: One day the GOP will consist of three members, and two will be on probation. Those seventeen that voted from the infrastructure bill can be considered to be on probation. The Democrats have their own problems, but so long as they stay away from the organizational model of the Republicans, they have a chance to reform their Party and stop giving the electorate reasons to vote for the Republicans.
Can they do it? I don’t know.
