Party for One – Republicans Act Like the American People Won’t Vote in November – WhoWhatWhy
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Republicans are governing as though only Donald Trump gets a vote in the midterms.
With six months to go before the midterms and poll after poll showing that the American people are deeply unhappy about the direction of the country, the president’s underlings in the administration and in Congress made it clear this week where their priorities lie: in pleasing Donald Trump.
The Department of Justice, after claiming to have spent nearly a year investigating the matter, indicted former FBI Director James Comey for an Instagram post in which he had arranged seashells to spell out “86 47.” This, according to DOJ, would be interpreted by a “reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances” as a “serious expression of an intent to do harm to President Trump.”
It’s tough to take this indictment seriously. Anybody who is actually “familiar with the circumstances” knows that this is just a hyper-weaponized DOJ using contrived charges to settle one of the president’s scores after it badly bungled the first attempt to get Comey.
Of course, the fact that this is happening at all is anything but comical. It’s clearly not good that the entire federal government seems to care more about the whims of the president than the needs of the American people.
Which brings us to the State Department, which on Tuesday announced that Trump’s visage will soon grace the inside of special commemorative passports (it is unclear whether the president’s enemies could be indicted for stamping that page or putting a thumbtack through it).
Will taxpayers foot the bill for this stunt? Yes. Is it totally tone deaf? Absolutely! Does anybody in the administration care about those things? Of course not, because the boss likes having his name and picture on stuff.
Speaking of tone deaf…
https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2049208884280062270
Not to be outdone, Republicans in Congress want to spend $400 million on Trump’s big, beautiful ballroom.
Hey, at least that’s something they could probably get passed, which is more than can be said of the Farm Bill, a FISA extension, and a bill that would fund DHS, all of which seem to be doomed in the House because of GOP infighting.
Hilariously, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) expressed his hope on Monday that “voters remember this in the fall,” and that they will keep “the grownups in charge.”
It is unclear what, exactly, he wants voters to remember, because it certainly is not anything Republicans in Congress have achieved.
In fact, the Trump administration and the GOP act like there won’t be any midterms that they need to worry about. They certainly aren’t addressing the affordability crisis, which is the top issue on the minds of regular Americans.
A more conspiracy-minded person might view this as evidence of a sinister plot that Trump will cancel the election… and he is certainly trying to rig the midterms. However, in this case, we believe in Hanlon’s razor, which states: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
Throw in the cult-like nature of today’s GOP, and it becomes clear why passports, ballrooms, and contrived indictments are the order of the day and not legislation that would reduce runaway prices, end a pointless war, or address any of the things Americans care about.
Klaus Marre, a former congressional reporter, is a senior editor for US politics at WhoWhatWhy. He writes regularly here, and you can also follow him on Bluesky and Substack.