The Craven 43 and Their Threat to the Nation

President Joseph Biden, Jr. – I often wrote and said during the Great Recession and the gradual economic recovery that followed that what we needed was another Franklin Roosevelt and we got Barack Obama instead. Reaction against that slow recovery led to the takeover of the Congrats by the G.O.P and to a corrupt demagogue as a successor. Now we need another FDR again. Will Mr. Biden learn from Mr. Obama’s mistakes?
[Photo: AP Photo/Evan Vucci]

We might have thought the one thing that would unite the 48 Democrats, 2 Independents, and 50 “Republicans” in the U.S. Senate would have been the unanimous conviction of the man who incited his invited hoard of murderers and malcontents to storm the United States Capitol.

After all, this was an attempted coup d’état to prevent the official counting of the electoral votes which resulted from the certified-free and fair November election.  It tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power and to effectively overthrow the U.S. Constitution.  All of these represent to us and to the rest of the world the worthiness of our 232- year-old constitutional democratic-republic. Sadly, we were wrong.

Our demagogic president at the time repeated his Big Lies about winning the election and told his insurrectionists that he would be with them on their unauthorized march from the Ellipse to the Capitol. However, the pathological liar abandoned them to seek refuge in the White House, far from the madding crowd, to enjoy viewing his handiwork on television.

Watching the incitement speech and the resulting insurrection on TV, I was reminded of one of those bizarre Christian crusades against the Muslim “infidels.” When the Christians sacked the city of Jerusalem – which was occupied by Christians, Jews, and Muslims – a crusader asked how they were supposed to tell the “infidels” from everyone else. The answer: “Kill them all, and let God sort them out in heaven.”

The president’s mob could easily recognize some of those they wanted to kill – Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi in particular – but how were they going to be able to distinguish the difference between the other members of Congress, many of whom were devout Trumpistas? Almost all representatives and senators were in serious danger. Senator Josh Hawley was safe because he had publicly encouraged the rebels, but what about others with his warped sympathies? Fortunately, none of those who had assembled in the Capitol to do their constitutional duty were physically harmed.

Ten House Republicans recognized the threat to democracy that was perpetrated by the president’s incitement of the insurrection and voted with the Democrats to impeach the instigator. This should’ve been a unanimous vote, but, because of the huge number in their party who were more loyal to the sociopath in the White House and to their party than they were to the Constitution, it took more than common sense and life-threatening danger to get them to vote to impeach. It took strength of character, moral integrity, and political courage.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) – He understood the threat that Donald Trump posed to our democracy, but he was willing to use him to get big tax cuts for his party’s donor base, to get government deregulation for his corporate donor base, and to appoint Federalist Society reactionary judges to federal courts to protect the interests of the G.O.P. and its donors.
[Photo: The Washington Post//Melina Mara]

In the Senate trial, only 7 of 50 “Republicans” displayed those three traits – 10 fewer than needed to convict. The Craven 43 who voted to acquit were loyal Trumpistas, not loyal Americans. They were scared to raise the ire of “The Former Guy” who still controls their party and, more importantly, still controls their voting base. The failed wannabe-autocrat personifies today’s G.O.P. Their holding him accountable for his tyrannical conduct was unthinkable. Hence, the Craven 43 displayed having the backbones of chocolate éclairs on a hot summer day.

Before the trial, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he would ask his fellow Trumpistas to vote their consciences. I couldn’t keep from laughing. McConnell has no sense of humor, but that was truly funny. What we used to think of as the Republican Party has been turning increasingly sociopathic for over forty years. It eventually made Newt Gingrich “Khan” Speaker of the House in 1995. It nominated Dick Cheney to be vice-president or “co-president” in 2000 and 2004. It descended in 2016 and 2020 to nominating a ruthless, reality TV star and godfather-wannabe for president.

Any hint of a conscience – an ability to be concerned about right and wrong – has only been apparent in an extremely few remnants of the old G.O.P. – and then only on rare occasions. Representative Liz Cheney led only ten “conservative Republicans” to join the House Democrats and Independents to vote to impeach. Only five “conservative Republicans” voted to even allow the Senate to conduct the trial: Mitt Romney (Utah), Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Ben Sasse (Neb.), and Pat Toomey (Penn.). Only Richard Burr (N.C.) and Bill Cassidy (La.) were willing to allow the overwhelming evidence persuade them to join the other 55 majority to vote to convict.

The rot on the national level descends to the state level as well. Trumpista-controlled state legislatures are already gearing up to sabotage future elections. Pennsylvania’s is planning to stack its courts with sympathetic judges who will be more likely to support reckless election challenges regardless of the evidence. Georgia’s is already planning ways to further suppress voter turnout. State G.O.P. parties have censured Wyoming’s Rep. Liz Cheney for supporting impeachment and North Carolina’s Sen. Burr and Louisiana’s Sen. Cassidy for voting to convict.

Even before the Craven 43 refused to hold The Former Guy accountable for his seditious act, ten so-called moderate “Republicans” approached President Joe Biden with an absurd “compromise” on his American Rescue Plan Act in response to the effects of Covid-19. It was a complete joke – only about one-third of what was needed. It was intended to assure the Biden effort would fail to achieve any of its goals. They hoped Biden would cave, but, so far, he hasn’t.

Former Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal – He famously said that the Republican Party had to stop being the stupid party. The party has become very adept at being able to prevent majority rule, which Mitch McConnell insists is one of his primary goals. The Democratic Party in Congress consistently represents a majority of voters but often holds a minority of seats in each house. The Republican Party won the White House in 2000 and 2016 but lost the popular vote.
[Photo: Justin Sullivan//Getty]

For President Biden to do what needs to be done on climate change, our outdated infrastructure, health care expansion, immigration reform, income inequality, et.al, will require at least 10 votes from the Trumpista Party in the Senate. We know that the Craven 43 not only don’t care but will oppose anything Biden suggests no matter what it is. The other 7 are, at best, questionable.

The current Trumpistas will continue their mostly-successful routine of pretending to be deaf, dumb, blind, and stupid on every important issue we face, engaging in an offence of obstruction and sabotage. If a majority vote in the Senate is not sufficient to pass important legislation – instead of a supermajority of 60 – they will continue to screw the majority of Americans and endanger our American democracy and the well-being of our neighbors on the planet.

(A version of this essay was published in south Arkansas’s El Dorado News Times on February 21, 2020.)