So we didn't get to eject my stupid corrupt congressman, the one I've been stuck with for 30 years. It's bad news for both me and whomever else was in line to finally break his lock on the annual Beadiest-Eyed Congressperson Of The Year title. It would be one thing to be represented by an ideological monster like pederasty enthusiast Jim Jordan in Ohio or something, then I could really rage about injustice in a much more strident and self-righteous tone. Instead I get two more years (at minimum!) with off-brand Roy from Wings, except somehow even more obscure than that. A feckless, formless id of low-thrum grift and garbage, strolling the halls of Congress in my name, looking like George Wendt after a successful soul-swap with an actual fucking ferret. I know these pop culture references are old, but so is the nature of my disdain here. It's an analog hatred, the kind you could look up in a TV Guide if those were still a thing.
And if all that weren't irritating enough* we have to all let out a low collective moan of preemptive exhaustion as the dipshit former president officially announced his bid to become the most boring person in America for the next two solid fucking years of trying to find creatively sub-legal ways to steer campaign contributions into funds be can use for his long-standing personal project of somehow losing money on real estate.
The most boring part is that right now we are in the phase of "Oh no, the Republicans have learned their lesson this time," where a bunch of people who wouldn't recognize a principle even if it joined up with a mob of other principles and tried to murder them in a coup get to run to their press outlets and stand up to this obvious nonsense. So basically it's 2015 all over again. Like before, this hesitancy will have a shelf life that lasts exactly until the first primary results start coming in 2024 (elections still count for something). Then every single one of them will get in line behind their Very Big And Impressive Leader We Definitely Always Believed In, to a man. I almost said "to a person," but at this point, we understand how Republican politics works.
Like I said, we did this once. All the entrenched forces of GOP "normalcy" kvetch and (finger quotes)resist(finger quotes), but the motivation to protect their status quo against something as scary as an actual populist (even if he can only deliver about 30% of the populous at best) is as obvious as an overly generous application of bronzer. The thing about a populist is he doesn't need your endorsement. As often as not, the fewer endorsements, the better, as far as messaging to the rabid, untethered base goes. They're doing all the work making him anti-establishment when the Establishment rises up as one and goes "hey, fuck that guy!"
The difference here might be--might be--that right-wing populism in the United States is really mediated by an Australian message conveyance industry, a mass political movement centered around one person who is not eligible to vote in this country, and as of right now, he's giving an indifferent shrug and going "nah, I don't fancy it, mate."
But we'll see. At the end of the day last time, every last one of them got in line. The only consistent holdout was that maverick (trademark) John McCain, but he cheated by dying before the end of that presidential term. The rest of us didn't get off so lucky.
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*It also meant we acted as a firewall against Democrats retaining control of the House, so you know, here's a hot sauce chaser to follow up the sharp stick in the eye.
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