Image link / DonkeyHotey’s art (above) is a combination of caricature, photo collage and photo manipulation. She publishes under Creative Commons on Flickr. She calls this image “Republican death panel,” thus she inspired the title for this column.
Ring in the new year, or more precisely, bang the gavel for the Democrats in 2019. Finally the House of Representatives is controlled by the majority of the people with Democrats having overcome Republican gerrymandering and voter suppression to win and usher in a freshman class that actually looks like America, and compared side-by-side here is in stark contrast to the face of the GOP freshman. Needless to say this is an image the Republicans ought to be ashamed of, but more troubling to them it should scare them shirtless, so to speak, since as demographics catch up with them they will be going into more and more elections sans their shirts.
As the Democrats celebrate their wins and the country hopes they can live up to the promise that they will rid this land of the scourge that is Trumpism, let’s not forget who has self-exiled himself from the House where had he stayed he would have suffered the humiliation of being demoted to mere minority leader and with further humiliation, where he’d have to watch Nancy Pelosi wield that huge gavel.
Paul Ryan, who at a mere 48 years of age, embarrassed himself by using the classic rationale for pushing his way to the lifeboat of a sinking ship: “If I am here for one more term, my kids will only ever have known me as a weekend dad. I can’t let that happen”
Ryan told reporters the prospect of Democrats taking the House majority in November had no bearing “whatsoever” on his decision not to run. He also believes his retirement will not have an effect on Republicans’ ability to keep their seats.
“I really don’t think a person’s race for Congress is going to hinge on whether Paul Ryan’s speaker or not,” he said.
Ryan argued that the GOP has a “great record” and “great economy” on which to run. Republicans have used the tax plan as one of their main arguments for why they should hold the House, though it is not clear the policy has resonated with voters.
The House speaker said he knew holding the position would be “fleeting,” and added he did not want to let it take over his life. CNBC “Ryan Explains why he retired.”
Liar, liar, life vest on fire, Mr. Ryan. You are retiring for two reasons. One, you can’t stand losing power. Two, you can’t stand making excuses for Donald Trump who you know is an ignorant lunatic. Even when you decided not to run again, you had to know there was a good chance that if you stayed on you’d be watching Trump being impeached and you’d be helpless to stop it.
Now he must be relieved as he considers the wisdom of this. Every day he sees that it is more and more likely Trump will be impeached, thus reinforcing that he made the right decision for himself. The new House minority leader, hapless Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, will have to sit helplessly on the sidelines and Ryan will be at home with wife Janna and their three children.
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Copyright © 2018 Capitol Hill Blue
2 thoughts on “Republican death panel minus one for 2019”
As much as I’d like to see Donald Trump impeached and removed from office, the current composition of the Senate makes it highly unlikely to reach the 2/3 vote necessary to convict him and remove him. The better course might be to investigate him to death, castrating him politically, while not neglecting to advance progressive initiatives of benefit to the majority of working voters.
Not to mention that if Trump is impeached (which he won’t be), we would end up with Pence. He would be even more dangerous as he knows how our government works. So he would have a better understanding on how to violate the Constitution to make the country a theocracy. And the GOP would go merrily along with him.
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