God helps those who service themselves
If there is a silver lining to the MAGAfication of the U.S. House, it is this: outside the Beltway there are signs that Republicans care about something other than owning the libs.
Thomas B. Edsall examines efforts inside several state legislatures to marginalize the governing-be-damned philosophy of the craziest of Republican crazies.
In South Carolina (of all places), the majority Republican caucus has insisted all members sign onto a set of rules prohibiting from campaigning against other members or from dishing to reporters on what transpires inside confidential closed meetings. Refusal to sign would exile members from the caucus.
South Carolina Freedom Caucus members branded the move a “loyalty oath.” A conservative web publication said the rules:
would prohibit members from endorsing or campaigning on behalf of anyone challenging a G.O.P. incumbent in next spring’s primary elections. It would also prohibit lawmakers from posting images of the House’s electronic voting board on their social media pages — and from discussing the “internal processes” behind House votes during public appearances. Basically it’s an incumbent protection ultimatum — accompanied by a muzzle.
It seems that as Donald Trump’s star fades, some in the GOP would like to untarnish their brand.
In Ohio where Republicans were expected to elect hard-right Derek Merrin as speaker, “a bipartisan coalition of 32 Democrats and 22 Republicans” elected “less conservative, less confrontational Republican, Jason Stevens.”
And in Pennsylvania where MAGA Republicans lost in race after high-profile race last November, “enough Republicans joined with Democrats in a bipartisan vote on Jan. 3 to make Mark Rozzi, a centrist Democrat, Speaker of the House.” That, pending the outcomes of special elections to fill three vacancies.
Edsall writes:
Vladimir Kogan, a political scientist at Ohio State University, replied by email to my inquiry about developments at the state level, suggesting that evidence of Trump’s weakness in the 2022 election has elevated Republican unease concerning ties to the former president: “I suspect some of what you’re seeing is party leaders updating their beliefs about electoral strategy and also trying to do damage control and protect the party brand going forward.”
It could be that culture war fights are wearing thin with Republican-aligned groups more interested in economic development than in owning the libs, Kogan suggests.
Boston College political scientist Michael Hartney believes “many Republicans are feeling more liberated to focus on pursuing their governing agenda than on appeasing Donald Trump. Clearly Trump is still an important figure in the party, but Trump’s influence has surely waned.”
Neil Newhouse, a Republican founding partner of Public Opinion Strategies, believes the recent emergence of more moderate Republicans at the state level “has less to do with G.O.P. legislators reading the tea leaves — signals — from voters calling for more moderation and bipartisanship, and more to do with legislators own self-preservation.”
Servicing themselves
Once, all politics was local. But Trump-, Fox-, and QAnon-fueled MAGA Republicanism has convinced the fringe right that every election is a life-or-death struggle between red, white and blue (especially White) Real Americans™ and a liberal Army of Darkness. Basically, anyone to the left of Ron DeSantis.
But that faction may be wearing out its welcome:
On Jan. 9, CBS News/YouGov released a survey of 2,144 U.S. adult residents interviewed between Jan. 4 and Jan. 6 that showed substantial internal divisions within the Republican Party, between a dominant Trump wing and a smaller but substantial non-Trump faction.
Nearly three quarters of voters CBS called “MAGA Republicans” said “investigating Joe Biden” should be a high priority for the new Congress, while 47 percent of “Non-MAGA Republicans” agreed. Sixty-five percent of Republicans said “being loyal to Donald Trump” is very or somewhat important, while just over a third said such loyalty is not important at all or not very important.
A decisive majority of all voters polled by CBS, at 70 percent, said they would prefer the new Republican House to work with “Biden and the Democrats to enact policies all can agree on,” compared with 30 percent who said the Republican House should “oppose Biden and the Democrats to try to stop their policies.” A majority of Republicans, 52 percent, said the House should oppose Biden and the Democrats, but a not insignificant 48 percent favored working with Biden and the Democrats.
Perhaps Republicans not intent on abolishing the Internal Revenue Service would actually like the people they pay for governing to actually do some. It is clear that the MAGA crowd sees elected office as a vehicle for right-wing celebrity and lucrative influencer status. Public service? Bah! God helps those who service themselves.
Details, details
Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s MAGAfied House nevertheless passed on Monday night the supposed “Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act.” At barely over one page, the bill would rescind additional IRS funding approved last year (The Hill):
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated Monday that the legislation would eliminate about $71 billion of the total $80 billion that was allocated for the IRS but would reduce tax revenue by about $186 billion, translating to a $114 billion increase in deficits over the next decade.
Republicans have repeatedly falsely claimed the 87,000 new IRS employees, who would be added over the course of a decade, would be “agents.”
In normal-speak, the bulk of those would be additional IRS employees hired to ensure that receiving your 2022 refund won’t take nine months or more like last year. Details, details.
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in an August letter to members of the Senate that the funds from the legislation would be used to up examination of large corporations and high-net-worth individuals and were not designed to raise enforcement for households making less than $400,000. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has also said that the agency would not increase audit rates for those taxpayers making less than $400,000.
The bill will go nowhere in the Senate and President Biden said on Monday he would veto it if the bill made it to his desk. But the play’s the thing for the MAGAs, not actual governing. In fact, the less governing the better.
“We are not going to [get spending under control] on the backs of our troops and our military,” Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) told Fox. No, they’ll do it on the backs of paycheck workers, children, seniors & the disabled.
“[Republicans] are going to try to cut Social Security and Medicare,” White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain tweeted Monday. Waltz represents Republicans who want to target “the entitlements program” for cuts as though they are public giveaways.
If social insurance is a handout, Republicans, why are we paying premiums with every paycheck?
Details, details.