Dear Diary,
The House is a mess, with a new sheriff — speaker — in town. Republican Mike Johnson hails from the Deep South (Shreveport, Louisiana), a soft-spoken Bible-Trumper with extremist views.
Johnson convened a candlelight vigil outside the Capitol on Nov. 7, a month after the Hamas atrocities against Israel. That bipartisan act aimed to heal some household rancor. However ...
Johnson’s first test (which he passed Tuesday, Nov. 14): does he have the political chops to avert a government shutdown by the following Friday midnight? Just in time for the Thanksgiving turkey getting fat, the federal workforce, military and air traffic controllers may have to work without a paycheck.
Like most Republicans, Johnson plumps for more military aid to Israel [though he left it out of the continuing resolution], but leaves Ukraine out in the cold.
Dear Diary,
My friends are in a panic about the New York Times poll. The one that claims President Joe Biden trails former President Donald Trump in battleground states. (Yeah, right.) They fear all is lost with Trump as a tyrant who means to jail enemies and herd migrants into “sprawling” camps.
(And he used the word “vermin,” baring his fascist fangs.)
I say: Show a little faith in America. The New York Times 2022 polls proved dead wrong.
The trouble is, polls can sway the electorate before the first vote is cast. Such polls do not belong on the Times’ front page. It’s irresponsible.
The press should never normalize Trump as a candidate, not after he urged an angry armed mob to attack the Capitol. His clear danger to democracy will be tried in the courts, but that day can’t come soon enough.
Israel is in a worse fix, with a churlish leader under criminal indictment in wartime. Let’s learn from that desperate state.
Dear Diary,
Besides, Biden has a good story to tell the American people, on climate, jobs, infrastructure and recovery from the global pandemic. He just needs to tell it. Then the man with a common touch will win the election — again.
Biden’s no former President Barack Obama, a beautiful talker, but he walks the walk. A Senate war horse, Biden really enjoys engaging in the political process. Obama kept his distance from Congress, barely concealing his disdain.
Dear Diary,
Senate Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia landed a body blow to his caucus, announcing he won’t run in 2024. He played quarterback in college football until an injury took him off the field.
That’s the feeling right now. Whatever progressives felt about the centrist Manchin, he’s one of the best players in the Democratic majority of 51. With him gone, his red state will surely elect a Republican, making control of the Senate a near thing.
Now all they can do is hope the handsome, likable Manchin doesn’t run for president.
Dear Diary,
After decisive blue election victories, the Supreme Court woke up and smelt the coffee. They lost the public trust. Their medieval stand on reproductive rights (reversing Roe) was a gift to Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia voters who favor freedom for women and girls.
Since all Republican men side with the court, this gift will keep on giving into 2024. Depend upon it.
That 2022 ruling delivered a new low in American history, the first time the high court took away human rights.
In a belated bridge to heal the breach, the John Roberts court issued a code of conduct for the first time.
Lavish vacations and gifts to members Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito became too much even for arch-conservative Roberts. But there’s no way to enforce his ethics code.
Dear Diary,
Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene tries to impeach the Homeland Secretary. The Georgia cracker doesn’t let a day go by without a fight.
Meanwhile, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has lost a step and fighting spirit. He couldn’t corral a freshman football coach, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, from blocking hundreds of Pentagon promotions.
Dear Diary,
The rousing March for Israel rally happened today outside the Capitol.
Yet in the Israel vigil, Speaker Johnson spoke as if from a Christian pulpit, addressing “Heavenly Father” in prayer. In a diverse gathering for the Jewish state, with many Jewish members present, that felt wrong. Church and state separation, sir.
Dear diary, that’s the least of it in the Republican mad House. P.S. All’s hell on the Hill when a Republican senator (“a guy from Oklahoma”) threatens to slug a witness and a former speaker elbows a member who helped oust him. All in a Tuesday. Interesting times.
Jamie Stiehm is a former assignment editor at CBS News in London, reporter at The Hill, metro reporter at the Baltimore Sun and public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She is author of a new play, “Across the River,” on Aaron Burr. See JamieStiehm.com.
From The Progressive Populist, December 15, 2023
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