Has to be said...

 

Much like the Big Bang, the GOP's self implosion wasn't a singular, one-off event. It's a slow and perpetual expansion that manifests as organized chaos. But unlike the Big Bang, we know the cause. 

When Trump was elected in 2016, the Republican party fractured into its conservative, moderate, and nationalist wings - the latter of which has dominated much of the party's business in the six-plus-years since that general election. Anyone who dares wander from the base is described as "RINO," which will never stop being amusing seeing as how the dominant wing of the party long ago abandoned "conservatism" to embrace populist, conspiracy-mongering madness. 

Kevin McCarthy was toppled as Speaker when one of his fellow caucus members, Matt Gaetz, decided to make a name for himself. Steve Scalise, who once alluded to himself as "David Duke without the baggage," mounted a bid to replace McCarthy. He failed. Up stepped Jim Jordan, who declared "America wants me," which is definitely charming. Trump-endorsed Jim Jordan was once a wrestling coach at Ohio State and stands accused of at best looking the other way during a sexual abuse scandal, and at worst intimidating witnesses who came forward. He's also never passed a single bill in his 17 years as a Congressman. In any case, as I write this, Jim Jordan lost yet another vote for Speaker, a job he will never have. 

McCarthy has attempted to blame Democrats for his own party's internal crossfire, as they also voted to oust him. Of course, McCarthy could have negotiated a few votes with some compromise, and inexplicably neglected to do so. Their gambit, it seems, would be to pin their own failings on the minority party. They continue to blame Democrats for failing to elect a Republican Speaker - in every floor vote since all 212 Democrats have voted for their minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries. As they should. 

Back to Matt Gaetz, a MAGA Congressman who threw an ill-considered tantrum to oust McCarthy without any serious thought on his replacement. He's a smug, illiberal, empty suit whose ambition exceeds his worth. He's one of the leading, young radicals who stink up the legislative branch while turning his political party into a rolling punchline. To say I'm enjoying schadenfreude over this would be an understatement. 

For several years, I've been asked "wHaT hApPeNeD tO yOu?!" or "yOu'Re a LiBrUL nOw?!" My answer has always been the same - I'm the same politically as I was 10 or 15 years ago, with a few exceptions. I just refused to fall for a sociopath who lies for sport to benefit a single person - himself. The party fell over itself to please him, even deferring the entire 2020 platform to "whatever Trump wants," which I'm not making up. 

The Republican party is dead. The ideals it purports to stand for are irrelevant. The people who still legitimately desire Trump (not just content to vote for him 'if they have to) have brain worms. It's done, it's a wrap. They hate life and themselves, they can't govern, and they hate you. "Democrats are woke and bad too!" you'll say, which is a logical fallacy I won't bother to address anymore.

I'm not really tired of being right, but it is grueling having to see history re-written repeatedly in deference to the man, or to have his shenanigans boiled down to "mean tweets." Hey, here's a mean tweet I wrote in February 2020: 

Well, it's not mean. But I told you so.