What does “freedom” really mean to MAGAs, anyway? Right-wing Commentators take every opportunity to shout about American freedom, insisting that it is under threat from the “radical left.” Similar to MAGAs definition of “patriots” and “patriotism,” to them the fight for “freedom” has long-since become code for anything that conflicts with their ridiculous “Little House” / ”Happy Days” world view, which they refuse to relinquish at any cost, including violence. White nationalist Nick Fuentes recently said the solution to the fact that Republicans are in a minority and keep losing elections is to establish “a dictatorship”: “We need to take control of the media or take control of the government and force the people to believe what we believe or force them to play by our rules.” You may argue that Nick Fuentes isn’t representative of most MAGAs, but I increasingly fear that he is.
Needless to say, we should all feel very fortunate that the so-called “red wave” didn’t materialize as predicted this election cycle; the Republicans failed to take back the Senate and gained only a slight majority in the House. Members of the “Freedom Caucus”—the likes of Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, and the ever-charming Marjorie Taylor Green—will investigate things the rest of us haven’t even thought of but will be essentially powerless to enact any meaningful legislation. They can threaten to hold the country hostage by shutting down the government and defaulting on our debt by refusing to raise the debt ceiling, but hopefully the Democrats can avoid a disaster of that sort by raising the limit before the current House session ends. Unfortunately, however, the House Republican majority will preclude accomplishing any more of the Biden agenda for the next two years.
As this humble spirit expressed previously, and doesn’t apologize for, it was high time for the Democratic Congressional leadership to go and this feels like a logical time to make the transition. Hakeem Jeffries will make a terrific Minority Leader and an equally terrific Speaker in 2024, God willing. Young voters were a significant factor in preventing the red wave and we need politicians in Washington who aren’t quite so many generations removed from the realities of their world.
Kevin McCarthy and Republican Leadership are an Embarrassment.
As for Kevin McCarthy, I don’t know how anyone can say it better than Speaker Pelosi did when she was caught on a hot mic a few months back: “He’s such a moron.” It’s still highly questionable whether he will become Speaker and even more questionable if he will have better luck controlling the Freedom Caucus than his predecessors, Paul Ryan and John Boehner. So far it looks like he is willing to completely sell out just to hold the gavel. I hate to root for someone to fail, but in this instance I do; nothing is better for America than the Republicans being in hopeless, helpless gridlock and disarray until the Democrats return to power.
Which brings us to one of the great contributors to disarray in our country’s history, Donald Trump, the perennial elephant (horse’s ass) in the room. His announcement that he is running for president in 2024 was filled with bitterness and lies but, per usual, lacked any positive vision for the country. Or rather, his vision is to unleash as much MAGA anger as possible despite the damage it causes. Not surprisingly, his reaction to Merrick Garland appointing a special prosecutor to take over the Mar-a-Lago and January 6th investigations was to spew out more lies. (Is there anyone he doesn’t portray as a far-left conspirator out to get poor, innocent little Donald Trump?) It’s hard to contain my enthusiasm for a Trump indictment, but this humble spirit worries it will be a terrible episode for the country. We’re talking about a lot of pissed off and possibly violent MAGAs willing to fight to the death for their precious “freedom.”