Republicans Want To Show Their Base They're Anti-Government
Ten hardcore Senate MAGAts— Mike Lee (UT), JD Vance (OH), Tommy Tuberville (AL), Eric Schmitt (MO), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Rick Scott (FL), Roger Marshall (KS), Marco Rubio (FL), Josh Hawley (MO) and Ron Johnson (WI)— are vowing to disrupt the upper chamber and prevent it from getting any work done. Of course these ten have taken on the roles of daily obstructionism from the beginning of the 118th Congress. There is nothing they’re braying about doing now that they haven’t already been doing since the Democrats won the majority. Except they really can slow down nominations. Rachel Bade, Eugene Daniels and Ryan Lizza reported that “So far this year, about half of non-military and non-Foreign Service nominees have been confirmed by voice vote, which requires agreement from all 100 senators and skips time-consuming procedural steps. If the MAGA senators make good on their threats, Schumer could be forced to trudge through cloture votes and debate, eating up precious floor time that he might prefer to expend on election-year messaging bills such as the contraception legislation he’s planning to bring up this week.”
In the House though, the psychos run the show. And they have some really crazy fireworks planned this week to demonstrate their allegiance to their cult leader and their rage at a jury finding him guilty— making Trump the first convicted felon to ever run for president. So, while House Democrats are working to pass legislation to protect women’s reproductive freedom, the lunatic fringe is leading the House GOP into loony-land. Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer wrote that “Republicans on Capitol Hill are preparing to wield their legislative and investigative powers in defense of [Señor T] after a jury found him guilty last week of 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to an adult-film actress… The contrast on Capitol Hill will be reflected on the campaign trail as Trump decries the verdict, which his campaign and supporters say is a fundraising boom and has further motivated his base. ‘As [Señor T] has said, Republicans need to be tough and fight back hard,’ Caroline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokeswoman, said in a statement. ‘This is more than about [Señor T]— it’s about the Democrats’ willingness to persecute anyone who speaks out against them and challenges the system.’ But Democratic leaders in the House and Senate believe the election will be decided not on Trump’s felony conviction— even as some Democratic members will absolutely incorporate it into their campaign messaging— but on issues that affect voters, senior Democratic sources say.”
On Meet the Press yesterday Hakeem Jeffries’ messaging was: “Extreme MAGA Republicans are going to continue to lie for Donald Trump. President Biden and Democrats are going to continue to solve problems for hard-working American taxpayers.” Now that Congress is in full campaign mode, MAGA Mike is back in complete alignment with his crackpot fringe, “pledging oversight and retribution for Trump’s guilty verdict. ‘What we’ll do with our tools that we have in Congress, in the House, is, we’ll use oversight responsibility,” Johnson said on Fox News Sunday.” Yeah, sure they will.
Jim Jordan (R-OH), chair of the Republican-created Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, has called on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and lead prosecutor Matthew Colangelo to appear before the committee on June 13. (There’s no indication that they will comply.)
Johnson also indicated that Republicans are looking at how to target Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting a Jan. 6 case against Trump.
Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has been leading the charge, calling for Congress to cut Smith’s funding. That was previously something that Johnson told our friends at Playbook isn’t possible, but now Johnson appears open to examining what is. (Greene, meanwhile, is now calling on Congress to defund New York.)
What Moscow Marge is pushing is legislation to block New York from receiving any federal funds— including things like education and housing, which is very much inline with her secessionist thinking. It will be interesting to see how the 10 New York Republicans— Nick LaLota, Andrew Garbarino, Anthony D’Esposito, Nicole Malliotakis, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, Elise Stefanik, Brandon Williams, Claudia Tenney and Nick Langworthy— will vote. A yes vote by any except maybe Tenney, Langworthy (who wouldn’t want to back this) and Stefanik would be career-ending.
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