A rudderless, policy-lite, and solution-free House GOP bets its future on endless investigations
The politics of nihilism
This summer, the GOP looked at the 2022 mid-terms and predicted that fate and Jesus had laid the groundwork for a red tsunami. They campaigned with confidence that an unpopular President, a porous border, and a declining economy — backlit by a rising crime rate enabled by feckless Democrats — would usher them into the promised land. And soon, they would be, once again, leaders of a united Republican Congress.
They were wrong. The electorate voted for abortion and against hate — for democracy and against fascism. The Democrats retained control of the Senate and limited Republicans to the smallest midterm House seat pickup in 20 years. How did it happen?
The GOP planted the seeds of its failure two years ago. Parties traditionally create a new platform for each General Election. It allows party members to offer diverse opinions. And for delegates to vote on each plank. It ensures that a party adapts to changing realities and fixes what is broken. However, for the 2020 election, the GOP used COVID as an excuse to stick with the 2016 platform. They would have had to negotiate any change with Trump. And nobody wanted that headache. They adhered to Trump's America First Agenda. And in August of that year, Trump released his list of Core Principles.
Thus, in 2020, the GOP ran on policies decided on by one man whose only interest was himself. The result was a crushing defeat. Americans told Trump to bugger off by a margin of 7 million votes, the House remained Democratic, and the GOP lost the Senate. Following 2018, in which the GOP lost the House, the GOP had now blown two consecutive elections. And 2022 made it three.
This disastrous trifecta left the GOP with two choices — reassess or repeat. The GOP not only chose to repeat but decided to dial it up to 11. They stuck with their policy-free bigotry and added they would investigate everything in the Biden universe, from his son to school boards. It is insane.
Especially as the GOP no longer has the luxury of just sitting on the sidelines throwing brickbats. As disappointingly slim as their margin is, they control the House. Now they own part of the responsibility of governing. It is not something for which they prepared. They have no plans, no policies, and no ideas.
Should things stay bad, the GOP will be screwed. They will not pass anything offered by the Democratic Senate. They will not fund anything proposed by Biden. And therefore, the Democratic 2024 campaign ads will write themselves, “We had a solution, but the GOP would not fund it. We tried to work out a compromise, but the GOP never gave us a proposal.”
Should things improve, the Republicans will have no policy to point to that caused the improvement. They will try and lie. But their record will be wall-to-wall investigations. Democrats will point out that they brought about positive change for the American people despite a Republican party whose only contribution was to keep hard-working government officials from doing their jobs by endless document retrieval and committee testimony. It will be Benghazi on steroids. And how did that work out for the GOP?
Republicans will whine that the Democrats did the same. But the voter knows the difference between investigating a President for inciting a fatal, democracy-threatening seditious riot in the halls of Congress and the endless procession of picayune probes the Republicans will cook up.
Jim Jordan, for instance, has announced he will investigate the Education Department for the Biden Administration’s “misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources to target concerned parents at school board meetings.” And he has written to White House chief of staff Ron Klain to ask White House officials to testify at the beginning of the next Congress on the same subject.
In addition, he is seeking voluntary testimony and compliance from Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray into allegations of politicization and bias at the bureau and the Justice Department. And he sent a notice Friday to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas requesting “prompt testimony” from Mayorkas and ten others with key roles in immigration and cybersecurity about border issues.
And he tweets “Why doesn’t Joe Biden’s White House want us to see Hunter’s suspicious activity reports? Discussing that and more with @IngrahamAngle shortly. Tune in NOW to Fox News!" (The astounding chutzpah is he tweeted this after retweeting MAGA Rep Andy Biggs's saying “Democrats are more interested in attacking the President's family than what they're going to do to help your family.”)
There Jordan lays bare the reason for the GOP obsession with these investigations. They need the FOX News imprimatur. They have no idea what Americans want - and they do not care. They need to win their next primary because they live in safe red seats and will win reelection no matter what happens to their party overall.
Majorie Taylor Greene (and whether you hate her or hate her, she has played her cards brilliantly) says it so the cheap seats can hear it. She tweets IMPEACH MERRICK GARLAND! Her other obsession is Ukraine, as she tweeted "The question is, is Ukraine now the 51st State of the United States of America? And what position does Zelensky have in our government?"
Her plan for improving things in America is to audit the money we send to our allies. For that reason, she tweeted, “We must audit every American taxpayer dollar sent to Ukraine, which is why I introduced a resolution to do just that. The American people deserve to know where their money is being sent.” I do not get it. She says the money is being sent to Ukraine and wants an audit to know where the money is being sent. Gazpacho logic?
Perhaps these are just two loose cannons? Hardly. The man who would be Speaker has made investigation his priority. The haircut over an empty suit, Kevin McCarthy, offered his first official statement after the GOP secured the House majority. It was entitled “House Republicans Demand Testimony from Biden’s Administration.” And this was its message
“House Republicans will be ready on day one to exercise our Article I authority to hold the Biden administration accountable. Every congressional committee has an oversight responsibility, and we intend to finally get the answers the American people deserve.
“We will not wait until January. Our work to hold this administration accountable has already started. House Republicans will follow the facts, and that means seeking documents and obtaining relevant testimony from top officials within the Biden administration.
“In 46 days, House Republicans will have the gavel, and our investigations to get answers on behalf of the American people are just getting started.”
You get the point. The GOP has as much clue as a car-chasing dog when America needs a competent driver. Thank God Biden has the presidency. And the Democrats have the Senate.