Enough of the Republican Party

I read today that deficits have spiked by $80B and that 3 million less people have health insurance today than when Trump took office — the result of the combined efforts of the Trump administration and a Republican-controlled congress. If these numbers had appeared under the Obama administration, Republicans would have ruthlessly criticized the administration’s performance. Instead, what we hear from Republican leaders, now that they are in power, is a kind of insipid indifference to statistical trends. “We’re Republicans, of course we’re sensitive to the issue of debt,” Paul Ryan said. In other words: ‘we’re Republicans, we get a free pass.’ In other words: we don’t actually care if things get better for most people. In other words: we secretly want things to get worse for most people. The whole party — the whole delusion of American conservatism — is one long dog-whistle for social Darwinism, greed, and racial hatred. The Triumvirate (Trump-Ryan-McConnell) want to pass a massive tax-cut for the rich, increase military spending, and then cut social services in the name of austerity. There’s no other plan, there’s never been another plan. I simply don’t know why this party exists. It’s deeply irrational, deeply dishonest, reflects the worst of our history and traditions. It is a prehensile tail, I wish it would drop off.