I thought Steve Benen summed up the pathology of the corpse of the conservative movement quite nicely:
If the Republican National Committee was striving for party “unity,” it failed spectacularly. Late last week, the RNC not only censured two of their conservative members without cause, it also accused the Jan. 6 committee of engaging in “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
Ever since, leading Republican voices have been forced to take sides, either endorsing or criticizing their party’s avoidable mess. Yesterday, as NBC News reported, Congress’ most powerful GOP official decided it was his turn to weigh in.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell disagreed Tuesday with the Republican National Committee’s recent censure of two GOP lawmakers, as well as its characterization of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
“We all were here; we saw what happened,” the Kentucky Republican told reporters, referring to the events of Jan. 6. “It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next. That’s what it was.”
Denial of reality is a prime symptom of madness, but also of incompetency. By admitting to it, one loses social prestige, so that course is avoided at all courses. And the incompetent often feel put-upon, discouraged by their lower positions on the power ladder. Better to make shit up than return to the pit of sadness.
When an entire organization, such as the RNC, is incompetent at all the key positions, this is what we see: a denial of reality writ large. As Senator McConnell (R-KY) notes, anyone who was at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, is well aware that mob violence took place, police officers were injured, one died and others committed suicide later, and that it wasn’t instigated by the left, but instead was a phenomenon of the right. As he says, it was a violent insurrection.
And the RNC is hopping up and down in their frenzy of denial. House Minority leader McCarthy (R-CA) is reportedly running away from reporters. Senator Minority Leader McConnell is outright disputing the RNC’s message.
This is a movement in meltdown.
This is not to say the Democrats don’t have their own set of problems, leading off with their botching of the transgenderism debate – or, more accurately, lack thereof – and, more recently, their muddling of Critical Race Theory, and what’s turning out to be mismanagement of the crime problem, exacerbated by the shrinkage in the number of law enforcement personnel. I’ve mentioned their cognitive problems after the Virginia debate.
But the Republicans’ problems appear to be far worse. They’re symptomatic of the incompetent and the amateur, determined to retain that status, getting their paws on the levers of power and, discovering that their actions are inadequate to the problems of governing, deny the problems and redouble their ideologically driven efforts.
Adults would, at some point, reject or modify their ideologies. For these folks, their ideologies are their identities, and so they cannot be rejected, for with that comes social prestige degradation.
Go get some popcorn. Both sides are going to provide entertainment. My most sincere condolences to those who are actually hurt by these buffoons.
