House Republicans are making a complete mess for 2020
The Republicans are still on their victory lap after they made a farce of the Senate last week, but it’s probably going to become a liability for them unless they rein things in, something that probably won’t happen soon. You might think with an election coming up, and the constant association of their party with the Russian oligarchy, that they might want to take some preventive measures on election security, however trivial or symbolic their votes on the matter actually are. You would be wrong.
Instead, this week, members of the House Intelligence Committee decided to boycott a national security hearing about how newly discovered technology could impact the security of future elections. In their letter, addressed to House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, House Republicans announced their refusal to attend the Wednesday hearing since Democrats won’t investigate the origins of the FISA warrant used on Carter Page, claiming it somehow made a two-year Russia probe illegitimate. This begs the question that if it were true, why didn’t they do anything in the two years when they had control of the House to stop it?
While Republicans still could theoretically keep the Senate and make gains in the House, this shows them at their most desperate. They’re without any real strategy to win now that their plans to gut healthcare and the social safety net are out in the open and they’ve managed to alienate mainstream voters with their cowardly decision to not allow impeachment witnesses.
To make things worse, they can’t rely as much on cheating to win this year, with state maps being redrawn and other tricks being struck down in court. They’re simply doing what they can to regurgitate lies and hope that some of them stick – good luck with how many voters don’t get tired of it before November.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making