The Coming Fight
My last piece ended:
And the world will burn.
And it very well might, but what do we do about it? The public expects very little integrity out of the GOP these days, (not their brand in the Age of Trump) and blatantly ignoring the bullshit rule they used to steal a senate seat under Obama will be met by their followers with nothing but excuses, and hypocritical praise. You know, the ‘own the libs!’ mantra the Trump base so dearly loves. The Democrats are the ones expected to be ‘big’ about the whole thing, and not too ‘political’, because how is anyone going to expect maturity from the Trump Party? It’s always defaulted to clean the GOP’s messes.
Trump will name a nominee (no doubt picked weeks, if not months ago) probably tomorrow or Monday and McConnell has proclaimed he’ll jam it through come hell or high water, hell being the more likely. Lindsey Graham has gone back on his word to hold any other president to the ‘McConnell Rule’, as I figured he would, so that’s a possible ‘vote against’ gone. But really, I never counted him in the first place; he’s an iron mote attracted to the strongest magnet in the room. That magnet used to be John McCain, now it’s Donald Trump. He will always go where Trump goes.
There is still the hope of conscience and integrity (that odd, odd word again) in the rest of the GOP Senate caucus, but that’s really just a sick joke, isn’t it? I am not an expert in the Senate rules, but I bet the parliamentarians on both sides are feverishly combing through the rules at this moment looking for ways to speed up and slow down the process. The Democrat’s will throw everything they can at the process, and the GOP will ignore any rules they don’t like, like always (skipping hearings and maybe just going to the vote? Would not surprise me). What can be done?
Maybe nothing at the moment, it’s very likely Trump and McConnell will get their pick. It’s going to be ugly, but if they have the votes, the process might be slowed but doubtfully stopped. What can be done, needs to be done is fight, and tell the GOP what the consequences will be if Biden is president.
One: Biden needs to be out in front of this now. A speech pointing out the divisiveness of the GOP’s actions and their lawless behavior is needed, one that trurns Trump’s so-called ‘LAW & ORDER’ nonsense on its head. It the GOP and violent police that are the problem and the lawlessness of the GOP is stopping the root from being dealt with. Their drive for power at all costs has corrupted this country of its government and courts, and need to be stopped.
Two: If the Democrats take the Senate, probable Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer has said he will ‘keep the filibuster in his back pocket’ like it’s some kind of threat against the GOP. This is insanity. The GOP doesn’t care, they’ll blow it up if they get the chance. No progressive legislation will get passed if they have to court far-right votes. It changes and compromises the bills down to nothing, and still won’t get any GOP votes. Didn’t they learn anything from Obamacare? Day one. It’s gone; majority rules.
Three: Expand the courts.
Yes, expand the courts. If the GOP, once again, pulls off a seat-stealing move like this, like Merrick Garland, there will be nothing they will not try. They have become an extra-legal gang in the government, roaming the halls and vandalizing the structure. This has to stop, there has to be consequences. The Constitution has no set number of judges to the Court, that limit is set by congress. The court over its history has been expanded five times; starting at six seats, going up to ten in 1837-1866, and then back to the current nine in 1869. If the Democrats take the Senate, expand the Court to 11-13 justices, negating the two stolen seats and restoring balance to the SCOTUS. It’s fair, legal, and needed. And not just the Supremes, the federal judiciary at-large should be expanded as well.
Announce this plan now. The GOP might actually think and back down, I doubt it, but they might. This entire Trump term has been about smashing and trashing the rules, and the checks and balances of the government itself, stripping out the oversite and grabbing power. Nowhere is this more evident than in the judiciary. Not just the Supreme Court, but the lower courts as well. Lists of unqualified, far-right ideologues were thrown robes and told to take a seat on the bench. This cannot be allowed to continue.
Look at the damage to the integrity and reputation of the court wrought by the GOP and the conservatives on it: from the 2000 Bush V Gore travesty (a decision not driven by law but politics) and then the McConnell gambit of making up a ‘rule’ out of whole cloth to deny Merrick Garland a fair hearing, staining the eventual holder of the seat, and all their decisions, with illegitimacy.
Four: You got the senate? Vote in Puerto Rico and Washington DC as states, that will give the Democrats a possible four more senators to form a bulwark against the GOP, one that will be hard to overcome. Then, start passing the rule changes needed to stop this nonsense that Trump and McConnell have been pulling for the past four years.
Action is needed. People are tired, people are angry. This is the action needed.