Nothing to see here (except desperate power grabs)

 

   I am no fan of Liz Cheney, the conservative congresswoman from Wyoming and daughter of George Bush’s vice-president and dirty-deeds-doer Dick Cheney. But it was unfortunate, to say the least, when she was booted from her leadership role for continuing to condemn former President Trump for insisting – still! – that Joe Biden stole the election from him. 

   Not only is it alarmingly evident that Trump still has power over the Republicans.  The Republicans want to get this messy, inconvenient truth out of the way so they can focus on Biden, especially with, believe it or not, mid-term elections coming up.

   This can also be seen in the effort to establish an independent committee to find out what happened on January 6 at the Capitol, such as those that looked into the Kennedy assassination and 9/11. The Democrats are pushing for this, and the American public, if not also the world, deserve to know what happened, but the Republicans are balking.  They don’t want Trump to look bad, and they don’t want their likely chances to win back the Senate and also gain in, if not retake, the House to be marred by a focus on the shocking, violent insurrection attempt.  (The party opposing the president historically has the advantage in the mid-terms.)

   This desperation is also evident here in California, where Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is facing a recall election.  In this dark blue state, where Democrats control the legislature and no Republican has won a statewide office in over a decade – and Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger won, yes, in a recall election, the only successful one in the state’s history – the Republicans are hoping this will be their entry to power.  Newsom has made a few blunders, like attending a mask-less birthday celebration at an exclusive restaurant during the height of the pandemic when he ordered everyone to stay home and wear masks, but most of what the Republicans are blaming him for – stay-at-home and masking orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19, power outages during wildfires, etc. – is beyond his control.  And unlike during the last recall election, when Democratic Governor Gray Davis was unpopular and Schwarzenegger therefore managed to win in a circus of an election with something like 135 candidates, polls are showing that Newsom will likely hold his seat, with the public having little appetite for an expensive recall election less than a year before the regularly scheduled gubernatorial election.  Talk about desperate!