Not my designation. Greg Sargent’s. But it fits.
Sargent examines ways by which Republicans could torpedo accountability for their God-man-child should they gain control of the House in the 2022 elections. It might not only take the form of endless Benghazi-like hearings targeting Merrick Garland and his department. They might employ parliamentary tools to defund ongoing investigations:
Such a tactic could badly complicate efforts to hold Trump accountable and could lead to government shutdowns and other chaos. The prospect is even more dire when you consider that a GOP House would containa large faction of feral Trumpists who see making Trump untouchable by the law as their highest calling.
Democrats tell me they’ve begun to examine a range of tools Republicans could employ in such a situation, in part to prepare for a worst-case scenario. The specifics of this show that the GOP rallying around Trump right now could have appalling real-world consequences later.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), for example, has been looking at ways Republicans might attack the salaries of law enforcement officials deemed enemies of Trump.
“They want to ensure that Trump is above the law,” Beyer told me in a statement, noting that he expects a GOP House to coalesce around the position that anyone in law enforcement “who poses a threat to Trump must be deterred, blocked, punished, or fired.”
Call went out from the erstwhile, “back the blue” congressional MAGAs to defund the FBI after the search of Mar-a-Lago. It is unlikely they would cut off 35,000 employees without provoking a backlash against the GOP. But considering the crackpot ways Trumpists thought they could overturn a national election, who knows?
Beyer points out thata GOP House majority could reinstate the so-called Holman Rule. This obscure rule — which Republicans revived last time they held the majority, until the Democratic majority ended it — would allow Republicans to use spending bills totry toslash the salary of specific federal officials or eliminate blocks of federal employees, and thus specific programs.
In a little-noticed aside, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) recently floated this idea, without detail. So it’s easy to see this rule being used as a mechanism to try to eliminate Garland’s salary, or the salaries of FBI officials overseeing an investigation involving Trump (or, if this happens, Justice Department officials prosecuting him).
Investigations into Jan. 6 that might lead not only to Trump but to Republican House members would be especially tantalizing for a MAGA-led House. With Joe Biden still in the Oval Office, he could veto any such legislation. But the GOP could make life miserable for all if they win control of the Senate.
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.) said Republicans will “use the levers of government to target, harass, and defund.”
Sargent concludes, “For MAGA loyalists, Trump is above the law.”
That much as been obvious for years. Confronting Trumpist drones in and out of government with their lack of scruples is to no avail. Conscience, ethics, and oaths are meaningless to the cult.
I’m reminded of Tom Lehrer’s musical takedown of Wernher von Braun:
Gather ’round while I sing you of Wernher von Braun
A man whose allegiance
Is ruled by expedience
Call him a Nazi, he won’t even frown
“Nazi, Schmazi!” says Wernher von Braun
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