by Thomas Reiner, ©2023
(Oct. 25, 2023) — Matt Gaetz is a master of putting his own interests first. He is simply an arsonist with pretty hair and unwilling to listen to anyone but himself, especially when on television. He has set the Republican House on fire by the ouster of Leader McCarthy with no thought of what occurs afterwards. The House is leaderless and suddenly he is silent with his foolishness. War has broken out in the Middle East and the House is powerless to aid Israel because of his stupidity.
Otto von Bismarck, who masterminded the unification of Germany in 1871, said, “Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best.” This is a spark of brilliance and a Universal Truth. The current makeup of the 118th Congress as of September 15, 2023, is 221 Republicans to 212 Democrats with 2 vacancies, which is only a four-seat Republican majority. Although the Democrats have learned to stick together as a unified hunting pack, Republicans are akin to herding cats. Their squishiness leaves virtually no negotiating room on anything where it takes only five Republicans to chase a different mouse than their 216 other fellow Republican cats. Matt Gaetz and his Kitty Squad are ignorant of political realities and should have heeded von Bismarck’s astute observation. Math lesson over.
Eli Crane is a freshman representative in this writer’s congressional district. He is a former Seal and America owes him a debt of gratitude. However Rep. Crane is a political novice and should have known better than to support the ouster of Leader McCarthy without a plan. In military parlance, Crane purposely led his squad into a valley surrounded by well-armed enemy positions on hills surrounding that valley. The Democrats on one hill actually have a chance to annihilate this squad by taking over leadership of the House. Chaos is the result, and the House is leaderless at a time when two wars have broken out and a possible third is threatening. Hopefully, Rep. Crane has learned a valuable lesson and will become a better leader in the future.
Gaetz and his Kitty Squad have made the Republican Party a laughingstock and America is paying attention. Although McCarthy was far from perfect (YMMV*), he was the elected leader and should have been supported, especially with such a miniscule Republican majority. Although they might feel good that they “got” him, the larger political picture is that all they accomplished was the disunity of the Republican Party. What they should have done was to heed von Bismarck and have a solid plan in place in the background where they had the support to select a replacement. Or shut up. This infighting has reached down from the national level to the state level to the local level. Republicans are fighting other Republicans, and a few have actually accused other Republicans that are 90% on their side as being traitors. It is a rough time being a Republican, and luckily there are glimmers of hope in the depth of the night, but the sands in the top of that sand clock are almost empty.
Ronald Reagan is rolling in his grave.
*YMMV means Your Mileage May Vary.
Spot on, Tom. I’ve come to learn through my own participation in politics, that the chaos we see in Washington DC starts at the local level. We have the same in-fighting right here in Yavapai County. We should be working to get Republicans into office, not fighting each other.
Gaetz is certainly an egotist. Met him in Florida two years ago. Loves himself.
He didn’t have a Plan B to follow Plan A, therefore can’t think ahead. Not a good sign for higher office seeking and ambitious folks.
However, often it takes many ballots for every political party to choose the right person for the job in their minds. Part of the political and constitutional process.