The Purging of Swamp Creatures
As Republicans rub their eyes, lick their wounds, and ask each other what the hell just happened, the 2022 midterm election has come and gone, leaving in its wake, a Republican party that did not see a red wave, or a red tsunami, they saw a red puddle. In the House, as of this writing, it is more than likely that the GOP will take control, but only with the narrowest of margins. Perhaps an Obama-era 2010 “shellacking” was not anticipated, but it was thought that seat pick-ups in the 20 to 25 range were foreseeable. That is not going to happen. For a time, the idea that Republicans might even take over the Senate had people buzzing. “Could it really happen?” Well, yes it could have happened. But something happened on the way to Republicans actually winning. What happened, was Mitch McConnell.
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley has probably put what needs to happen in Washington D.C. best. On Saturday night, when it became apparent that Democrats would stay in control in the Senate, Hawley tweeted out, “The old party is dead. Time to bury it. Build something new.” Hawley’s fellow Senator, Ted Cruz, went one better. He identified the reason Republicans lost the Senate by name. On a recent episode of Cruz’s podcast “Verdict,” Cruz began with saying to his cohost Ben Ferguson, “Well Ben, let me start off by saying I am so pissed off, I cannot even see straight.” What has McConnell done now that has even more people than normal saying he is a swamp creature that must be drained? Mitch McConnell decided that He was more important than the American people.
In a weird kind of twist, it stems from McConnell’s blinding hatred of former President Donald Trump. It is no secret that McConnell has no love for either Trump or the candidates he endorses. The problem for Mitch, Donald Trump is long gone from Washington, living his life in Florida. Mitch McConnell decided that if he can’t make Trump’s life miserable, he will just make Trump-backed candidates miserable, and indirectly, average Americans. In Arizona, Blake Masters was in a tight Senate race with Sen. Mark Kelly. Masters had been down by just a few percentage points, but the post Labor Day push to the election looked promising, and it was thought that, in the end, Masters might just be able to pull out a win. Unfortunately for Blake Masters, the deal had already been sealed.
The McConnell-affiliated Super PAC, the Senate Leadership fund, pulled roughly $8 million in campaign ad spending from Masters after he won his primary. What was McConnell’s beef with Masters? Blake Masters is a Trump endorsed, America First conservative. But even worse, Masters had stated that if elected, he would not be voting for McConnell for the leadership position. Well, we couldn’t have that so poof, went $8 million. So, the next obvious question would be, well, where did all that money go? Funny you should ask. The money miraculously ended up all the way up in Alaska. What’s in Alaska? Why Mitch McConnell’s buddy and sure vote for anything McConnell likes Sen. Lisa Murkowsi that’s who. Murkowski is in a pretty tight race herself against challenger Kelly Tshibaka. Turns out you can buy a lot of attack ads against Kelly Tshibaka in Alaska for $8 million. And that is exactly what the Senate Leadership fund did. The best part, Tshibaka also said she would not back McConnell for GOP Senate Leader.
So, what does it all mean? Well, once again, Sen. Cruz laid it all out. He said to podcast cohost Ferguson, “Because Masters said he would vote against Mitch McConnell, and so Mitch would rather be a leader than have a Republican majority. If there’s a Republican who can win, who’s not gonna support Mitch, the truth of the matter is he’d rather the Democrat win. So he pulled all the money out of Arizona.” But the problem goes deeper than Mitch McConnell’s petty childish mean girls games. For the next two years, left wing judges will be confirmed who will attempt to curtail the free speech, religious liberty, and second amendment rights of Americans. Apparently, Mitch forgot about that minor detail while he was busy funneling campaign money to his BFF and reliable vote for leadership Lisa Murkowski.
But let’s go back to Josh Hawley’s words. “The old party is dead.” Well, yes, it needs to be. “Time to bury it.” Yes, put it out of its own and everyone else’s misery. “Build something new.” Sen. Hawley may the one person in Washington who has listened to Americans. Yes, build something new. A new Republican party. A party that is not overseen by some octogenarian who thinks his power is more important than the will of the people. A party that will confront said octogenarian and demand to know who the hell he thinks he is. A party that is through “crossing over” to the other side of the aisle, when the other side of the aisle has no intention of doing any such thing in return. A party that doesn’t give a flip about what the propaganda arm of the opposition, a.k.a., the media think about them. A party that cares about what is best for America. A party that will finally listen to the people. Is it too far-fetched? Too unimaginable? Unfortunately for the majority of Americans, it probably is. Some might say that Sen. Hawley is just too naïve to think that such a thing might happen. The fact that he talks about it happening should be enough to spur a lot of people on to at least strive for it.
One thing is absolutely for certain. The Republican party cannot go on like this, with entrenched dinosaurs ruling over it, dictating who wins and who loses. If we do, it will be a death knell for sure. To paraphrase a past president, now is the time to fundamentally transform the Republican party.
