The clown circus in the House of Representatives continues as Jim Jordan is apparently going to force a third vote on the floor for his seemingly ill-fated bid to become Speaker. Just like his current tenure as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jordan seems to believe that the path to success lies in bullying, browbeating, and threatening people. That appears to be backfiring.
If you look at Jordan’s background it is easy to understand his penchant for fighting and trying to tie his opponents up in knots and ultimately prevail by wearing them down. Jordan was a wrestler in high school where he won state championships all four years. He then wrestled in college and won two NCAA Division I championships. There is that adage that ‘to a carpenter, every problem looks like a nail’. In Jordan’s case, it seems like he has never been able to move past his wrestling past and to him, every person with whom he disagrees is an opponent that needs to be wrestled to the mat.
The fact is, given that Jordan has not passed one piece of legislation in his sixteen years in Congress, it appears that his track record of accomplishments peaked in college, and he is trying to regain that former glory by continuing to wrestle everyone and everything while not understanding that a different skill set, and mind set is required to be a successful legislator. The country certainly does not need someone in a position of great power whose first instinct in virtually every situation is to fight!! Let the clown show continue! What an embarrassment for the country! Just another example of an egomaniac putting their personal ambition before the good of the country. He must have misread the job description for being a member of the House of Representatives!
On another front, I have been reading more and more articles about more Republicans in Congress being more vocal about the desire to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits to address the federal deficit. This is an interesting twist of the facts. I don’t think anyone would argue against the need to reduce the federal debt. That said, by law, Social Security CANNOT contribute to the federal deficit. Social Security benefits are funded from the social security trust fund which is funded via a payroll tax that we all know and love!! Consequently, cutting Social Security benefits WILL NOT help reduce the federal deficit.
What will help address the deficit? Raising taxes back to pre-Trump times! The Trump tax cuts were a big driver in the 7 trillion dollar increase in the Federal deficit during his administration. Of course, most Republicans are adamantly against any kind of tax increase because that would adversely impact their wealthy donors. It is far easier to conflate Social Security benefits and the federal deficit than to address one of the major problems – taxes are too low, primarily amongst the wealthiest in this country who can afford the increase.
This misdirection and misinformation campaign is necessary, so the Republicans don’t have to admit that the whole concept of ‘trickle down’ economics does not work. That has been demonstrated repeatedly since it first surfaced under Ronald Reagan. It benefits the wealthy at the expense of the rest of the population.
My guess is that these stories never air on right-wing outlets like Fox News and the others. I find it extremely ironic that much of Trump’s and the MAGA Republicans base is comprised of people who will be hugely impacted by cuts to these government programs and yet, they continue their fervent, cult-like support of MAGA politicians. I wonder if that support will continue and be so vocal if the Republicans are successful in cutting benefits. That will be fun to watch!
