Excuses, excuses
The eight-month journey in the 2024 election cycle has brought us to an interesting place.
The GOP is becoming desperate. House Republicans’ hope of getting their guy, Donald Trump, back into the White House is pinned on sabotaging a Biden-backed immigration bill that will secure the border (something Trump couldn’t do) and thereby keep the border chaos on the front-burner, enough to sink the president’s re-election.
That’s the best that they can come up with?
Apparently. The GOP cannot bash the economy — it’s fine. More than fine.
In January, employers added 353,000 jobs, according to USA TODAY. The unemployment rate is at 3.7%, according to the Department of Labor.
Sure, high prices are lingering at the grocery store, but make no mistake, the economy has recovered strongly — inflation is down, and Wall Street is booming.
The Republicans’ hare-brained scheme to tank Biden’s chances don’t stop at the border. They are trying to leverage for partisan gain the most-talked about celebrity relationship in the country: the romance between pop icon Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
But some Republicans are savvy enough to recognize a powerhouse when they see one.
On Newsmax, Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, whom Swift opposed in Blackburn’s race against former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen in 2018, was asked about Swift-Kelce, but the commentators didn’t get what they wanted. Blackburn praised Swift.
“Taylor Swift is really a popular, very talented young woman,” Blackburn said. “She has built quite an empire. I am so thrilled that she has chosen to base that in Nashville. She’s considered to be an influencer.”
Newsmax pushed Blackburn, asking her reaction to Swift calling her “Trump in a wig” in 2018.
“I just shake it off,” Blackburn said. How cute.
You can’t say that about other MAGA cronies who are gulping the Swift conspiracy Kool-Aid.
“I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month,” Vivek Ramaswamy, former presidential candidate and Republicans’ favorite token insurrection denier and conspiracy theorist, posted Monday on X. “And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall. Just some wild speculation over here. Let’s see how it ages over the next 8 months.”
Not well, Ramaswamy, not well at all.
Over the next eight months, Republicans are going to have weather the storm they created when Trump was elected to office in 2016. A storm they created when they thought banning a women’s right to make decisions about their own bodies was good policy or that sticking with a man who would confuse Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi would be a winner.
Swift and Kelce have more important things to worry about than the overwrought right-wing reaction to their romance. Swift has the Grammy Awards this weekend and Kelce has the Super Bowl to prepare for.
By the end of this year, Republicans will have nothing but excuses for their poor results.
In the words of Swift: They need to calm down; they’re being too loud.
Holding on to the past
In the month or so the Tennessee General Assembly has been in session, one thing is clear: The House GOP knows how to hold a grudge.
This week, state Rep. Johnny Garrett, R-Goodlettsville, introduced a bill that would prevent state lawmakers expelled for “disorderly behavior” from being tapped to reclaim their vacant seats.
This is direct response to the 2023 expulsions of Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, and Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville. Both Pearson and Jones were reappointed to their vacant seats by the Shelby County Commission and Nashville Metro Council, respectively. They later won re-election to their seats.
Using the expulsion vote was an abuse of power. Protesting refusal to pass meaningful gun legislation is legitimate.
It’s incredible that the House GOP can spend time on legislation aimed at two members and yet stonewall legislation to address a statewide crisis such as gun violence.
But the idiocy doesn’t stop there.
After Jones decline to lead the pledge of allegiance this week, House Republican Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison called for Jones’ resignation.
Jones responded: “I declined to lead the pledge of allegiance with my Republican colleagues who have attacked ‘liberty and justice for all’ when it comes to the people of our state and continue to support a man for president who incited an insurrection against our nation.
“It’s ironic that the same legislators who champion Confederate flags and monuments now want to lecture others about what patriotism should look like.”
Jones has a right, given to him by this country, to choose not to lead the pledge of allegiance.
It seems that the GOP is upset when people choose to exercise their rights as Americans.
Instead of criticizing Jones, why not salute him for inviting Sally Wells, a Choctaw elder, to the Capitol to be the first indigenous person to open a House session?
Jones is doing good things for Tennessee. The GOP is wearing blinders. Republicans cannot or do not want to see what is going on around them.