The Pursuit of Power

Hello, it’s the weekend. This is The Weekender ☕

As Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) woes throw into even sharper relief, House Republicans are incapable of doing even the most basic tasks of governing. 

This is the natural end state for a party that prizes power for power’s sake, for which destruction of the legislature is part of that pursuit. There’s no animating policy goal behind that quest, and how could there be? The new Republican coalition nestles Paul Ryan austerity hawks uncomfortably shoulder-to-shoulder with Trump-model brawlers more interested in getting the scalp of Alejandro Mayorkas than writing legislation. 

In a party unified solely — and I mean solely; look at the Republican party’s 2020 “platform” — by fealty to Trump, all that’s left is never-ending combat and owning the libs. That’s a problem for Johnson, and for anyone who tries (or has tried) to steer the unruly mob, as cooperating with the libs, especially when they control the Senate and White House, is a necessary component of governing. 

The policy rot of the Republican party, aided by the feedback loop of the right-wing media that encourages and praises this bloodlust, is evident on the state level, too. Whether it be Wisconsin and North Carolina defanging incoming Democratic governors during the lame duck, Tennessee expelling three lawmakers for supporting a gun control protest or Ohio Republicans censuring their colleagues who voted for a Republican speaker (because he had some Democratic support), everything is fair game in the quest for getting and keeping power. And it’s breaking the government at all levels. 

Keep an eye on the site Monday for my dive into the heart of the Republican party, where conflict is both the means and the end.

There’s a level of slipperiness to Trump’s arguments for why he is immune from prosecution which is so unabashed, so brazen, so indulgent of the con artist’s eternal myth that we’re both in on it, aren’t we, that it almost inspires admiration. Take his stance on impeachment. Back in February 2021, during his impeachment trial, Trump attorneys tried to persuade senators to vote to acquit because impeachment was just not the proper forum — after all, the criminal courts could decide.

“There is no January exception to impeachment,” Trump lawyer Bruce Castor averred at the impeachment, replying to a question from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). “There is only the text of the Constitution, which makes very clear that a former President is subject to criminal sanction after his Presidency for any criminal acts he commits.”

This week, Trump attorney John Sauer argued exactly the opposite to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals: his acquittal precluded prosecution. Judge Florence Pan took that stance to its logical conclusion with a question destined for instant fame: could Trump be prosecuted for having a Seal Team Six kill a political opponent, if he were acquitted at an impeachment trial over the same?

Sauer said “qualified yes,” a reply which meant “no” in context. At this point, it’s not shocking: Trump, after all, said during his 2016 campaign that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and retain support. But are we all, even his supporters, in on it?

On Jan. 6, 2021, as he realized the U.S. Capitol was being overwhelmed by rioters protesting former President Trump’s election loss, Harry Dunn strapped on a 20 pound steel chest plate, grabbed an M4 rifle, and joined the battle to keep the crowds back. Dunn, who was a Capitol Police officer, has been fighting ever since that day and is now attempting a run for Congress. 

“I witnessed those injuries happening to them in real time,” Dunn told TPM of the brutal violence visited upon his colleagues.“People denied what we went through and we saw with our own eyes; individuals with lacerations, limbs being nipped, incapacitated, faces full of bear spray, WD40. Hell, people, were spraying Raid at police officers, throwing all kinds of projectiles.”

In a Wednesday afternoon conversation with TPM, the candidate, who announced his run last week, talked about how it is motivated by a desire to confront right-wing election conspiracies and those who would attempt to deny what he and other members of law enforcement faced that day. 

“It’s seared in my mind,” he said “It’s etched in my mind and it’s downright disgraceful that people would deny what they saw with their own eyes.”

Read more here.