Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way

Trump's Republican Party Won't Lead or Follow - We Must Push Them Out of the Way

General George S. Patton, Jr.

The title of this article, attributed to General George S. Patton, Jr., must be our demand of the Republican Party. Its ‘leadership’ if what we’re seeing can described as such, is showing America our past, present, and future. As a country, we continue to disbelieve what our eyes show us: Donald Trump’s GOP has no interest in nor any ability to function as a pro-democracy, legitimate, or competent governing organization. Right now, they’re choosing ‘none of the above’ leaving our nation and our allies at the whims of this gang of nitwits.

We’re now three weeks past Kevin McCarthy’s felling by nine bananas Brutuses. Those members had little in common other than their individual loathing for the now-former speaker. In the wake of their act, the balance of the House Republican conference wanders around the chamber’s floor like addled geese – making a lot of unpleasant noise and voiding their political bowels all over the carpet.

This week, they’re considering nine more members who won’t be Speaker of the House. Of those, only two Majority Whip Tom Emmer and Austin Scott voted to certify Joe Biden as President of the United States. (Emmer did so only after signing onto Texas AG Ken Paxton’s bogus lawsuit to throw out Pennsylvania’s Electoral Votes.)

We shouldn’t be surprised by this, of course. As former Congressman Joe Walsh reminded me in our conversation last week, Trump owns the Republican Party. We cannot and must not be surprised by the near impossibility of finding a potential speaker who doesn’t either extol Trumpian values, support him politically, or both. Half the conference are actual or would-be seditionists.

Just five of the self-proclaimed “Problem Solvers” need to partner with Democrats to get the House and the government moving for the next 14 months. If they craft an agreement on bare bones legislation – budget bills and aid packages only, they can leave social issues to voters next year. We’ve seen them (rightly) vote against the likes of Jim Jordan, but they must now take the next step and do what they claim to value most: Country over party.

Not to be outdone in the screaming-at-the-wind department, Donald Trump continues his legal self-immolation, pissing off judges and their staffs up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Two of his attorneys, Sidney “the Kraken” Powell and Ken Cheseboro pleaded guilty to felonies in Georgia last week, promising to testify against the Don. Predictably, Trump claims not to know Powell, which is unbelievable, yet MAGA will believe it.

Question: How long into his next trial will Trump go into his Vincent “the Chin” Gigante defense and start roaming the courtroom in a too short bathrobe?

Vincent “the Chin” Gigante

While this is going on, Trump, the leader of his movement and his party, is spinning both into a whirlpool of delusion even I didn’t think possible (and that’s saying something.) Candidates want to follow their party’s leader, look for direction from above, and for a governing philosophy that makes sense in the context of a campaign. Trump cares for none of those things until and unless they benefit him personally, politically, legally, and financially.

Which brings us to the sideshow of sideshows: What continues to be called the ‘Republican presidential primary.’ It has the superficial features of such a contest: Multiple candidates spending millions of dollars, creating nasty ads, running around early states and occasionally facing off against one another on stage.

The press continues to cover the likes of Mike Pence, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and Tim Scott as if they have a chance of defeating Donald Trump. They do not and they will not. This fiction allows otherwise sane Republican voters (say 20% of the party) and the conservative donor class to believe they won’t get Trump back. The danger of continuing this fiction is these candidates’ willingness to attack President Joe Biden as if he is either 1) a senile fool who is bumbling his way into World War 3 or 2) the Marxist mastermind who is planning to turn America into Woketopia.

Mike Pence was once Vice President of the United States. Courtesy Adam Wren/Politico.

Tim Scott won’t say word one about Donald Trump’s unfitness for office. When discussing the war between Israel and Hamas? Joe Biden has ‘blood on his hands.’ It’s not true, but Scott doesn’t care. He, like the rest of the party leadership has sold out to MAGA’s nihilism. Rather than use their position and clout (such as it is) to wrestle the GOP away from Trump’s insanity, they dive deeper into his abyss.

And that is where we, the American people, come in. Trump and company are showing where they’ll lead us; into chaos at home and abroad. They’ve proven they’ll follow only their orange master. Therefore, we must push and shove them, politically and rhetorically, out of the way. MAGA stands between us and democracy. Between us and decency. Between us and compassion. Between us and justice. Between us and the future. They won’t lead. They won’t follow. They must get out of the way, or we’ll do it for them.

*Check out my talk with Joe Walsh on the Lincoln Project Podcast.