Snatching Defeat Out of the Jaws of Victory

 No one does it better than the Republicans

By Rich Kozlovich

 

This was a cartoon that appeared this week, and it really says it all, but I'm going to do a bit of history and analysis anyway, since we now know McConnell won via John Thune. 

There was a lot of CO2 wasted this week over who the GOP leaders in the Senate would be in the next Congressional term.  The House chose to keep Johnson as Speaker, and Thune as the Majority Leader in the Senate.  

It took only two secret votes in for the GOP to pick Thune, who beat out Cornyn with a vote of 29 votes to 24, and Scott who scored third in the first round of voting, and was out of the running.

Think about this, and I'm going to make an assumption here, if Cornyn got 24 votes in the second round of voting, it seems to me that means Scott had to have had 11 or less votes in the first round.  Out of 53 Republican Senators 11 or less voted for the one who had a history of  being on Trump's side. 

That left the two big McConnell RINO's, which I think is telling, and McConnell's number two man, John Thune won, who for years supported everything Ole Mitch wanted to do, or not do as the case may have been, and while he didn't vote to impeach Trump, there's a huge negative history between he and Trump.   Are we to believe he's going to be all warm and fuzzy now with his claim of being anxious to implement Trump's agenda?  You would think that would be most telling for the GOP, but apparently not.  I'll tell you what, we'll come back to that.  

Let's start with John Cornyn, who came in second with the Senate GOP:

RINO Senator John Cornyn, who’s been deeply involved in a left-wing “disinformation” group that uses the old Russia, Russia, Russia nonsense to run a so-called foreign disinformation department. Elon Musk suspects it’s actually a front to control social media behind the scenes, and he’s probably right......[he wasn't] just a gun-grabbing liberal in Republican clothes..........he’s so much more than that. Not only does he feverishly push the left’s agenda, but he’s also working behind the scenes to help run left-wing “disinformation” groups.............

And he was in Mitch's leadership group, are we to believe Mitch didn't know any of that?

Senator Rick Scott was absolutely one of the biggest Trump supporters in the Senate, and in 2022 offered this 11-Point Plan to drain the swamp and fulfill the MAGA agenda.  The GOP didn't take the Senate in 2022, but the plan showed clear intent to support a Trump agenda, which neither Thune or Cornyn have ever shown such intent.  They're part of the "establishment Democrats and Republicans and their corporate media mouthpieces view the American taxpayer as an ATM to fund their priorities."

The so-called infrastructure bill that 19 miserable, loathsome Republican senators just helped to pass shows the utter worthlessness of a corporatist Republican Party out of touch with its constituents. Most of these senators are from red states, and many of them are people Trump bailed out in 2016 and 2020 (including McTurtle) and helped to get reelected. They just gave their voters, and the American people, the middle finger. One can’t help but think they’re either incredibly stupid or incredibly corrupt; probably both if we’re being honest......

 

While both Thune and Cornyn voted nay on that bill, Mitch McConnell voted for it, and they're his acolytes, which tells of a certain mind set.  Just because they got something right once doesn't give them a pass on all the damage they've done.  Who wants to own a watch that doesn't work just because it right twice a day?

 

Eric Utter posted this piece today:

 

Thune elected majority leader, RINOs emboldened? John Thune.... is a McConnell acolyte, and a bend-over-backwards to compromise with Democrats Trump-disdaining RINO. This is a bad sign. Spineless establishment Republicans can always snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Even a rout. Trump is transforming the party, and they feel threatened like the Deep Staters do..................The Democrats will do everything they can to destroy Trump and all of his cabinet picks, indeed everyone in his administration, because Trump is trying to Make America Great Again...........

 

Eric went on to say, "Republicans—all of them—need to stand up to Democrats, not aid and abet them in their quest to return to power.........".   And is that going to happen?  Here's my analysis of how Senate power will play out.  

 

There are 53 Republicans and 47 Democrat/Independent Senators, with Arizona being challenged for voter fraud, and Pennsylvania attempting to perform a massive level of voter fraud.  So, what does that mean in the real world? It means the Republicans will officially be in charge of legislation and it also means the Democrat/Independent cabal will still be in control.  

 

Why?   

 

Because the Democrat/Independent contingent will vote in lock step, and there are so many RINO's who will typically vote with the Democrats, the Democrats will still control the Senate.  The realistic numbers?   Anywhere up to 19 RINO's will give the Democrats exactly what they want, and that's the history of Mitch McConnell, and his two acolytes, Thune and Cornyn. 

After all that should we rationally believe Thune when he says he's "extremely honored” to be leading the “Republican team [that] is united behind President Trump’s agenda”? 

Snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory is legendary for the Republicans because they're not who they claim to be, conservatives, they're like John Kasich, who suffers from a serious case of weird compounded by a massive infection of hubris claiming he has the right to define conservatism as he sees fit.   Which is on the left side of a one way street, and he's not alone.  

We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. - C.S. Lewis

Mitch McConnell's Replacement

By Rich Kozlovich

Assuming all the voter fraud the Democrats are attempting to inject into this election can be thwarted, the dust is settling, and it's looking like Trump will take the White House, the Republicans will take the Senate, and keep the House.   Not that the Republicans have done such a good job, but the Democrat party, as it's now configured, is in it's death throes being destroyed by the farthest left most radical people to have ever been seated in the Congress, and they've scared the nation.  But whether all that happens or not, we're going to see changes in the Congress, and especially the Senate.  

I'm channeling Oliver Cromwell here.  For those who don't know Oliver Cromwell was, he was one of the leaders in the English Civil Wars that defeated, and eventually executed King Charles I, and then ruled England as Lord Protector from December 1653 until his death in September 1658.  In 1653 Oliver Cromwell addressed a stunningly corrupt Parliament dismissing them saying:

¨"It is not fit that you should sit here any longer. You have sat here too long for any good you have been doing lately … In the name of God go.

That same line of thought was repeated In 1940 regarding Neville Chamberlain, and again in 2022 telling telling Boris Johnson to quit. "In the name of God, go"  Well, if the Brits have the stones to do it, and if the Republicans take the Senate, then as soon as possible after January 3, 2025 some Republican leader, preferably a new Senator, needs to stand up and say to Mitch McConnell:  

"It is not fit that you should lead our party any longer. You have been there too long for any good you have been doing lately … In the name of God go.” 

Ole Mitch has decided he's not running again, however, that doesn't solve the McConnell problem because Mitch McConnell is a perfect reflection of the Republican party leadership, and the majority of  Senate Republicans, at least until January 3, 2025, we'll see then.  There won't just be an explosion the day the Republicans meet to decide who their leader will be.  I'm expecting to see an political atomic bomb going off!  Here's

Kari Lake or Ted Cruz in their US Senate races when both are locked in tight races.

• announced he's going to run for the leadership of the U.S. Senate, a Senate RINO Mitch McConnell light.  Amil Imani points out why he's unfit to lead the Senate Republicans, "he did not back Attorney General Ken Paxton during his impeachment by the Texas state House, he's anti-gun, supports illegal migration,  as A.G. Paxton has already pointed out.
• Sen. John Thune of South Dakota has been joined at the hip with Ole Mitch and it's been assumed he'd be Mitch's successor, a major set back for conservatives, and for Trump. He's all in with the special interests who support open immigration, he's a war hawk pushing for American interference in all these forever wars.  He's not a conservative.   

Trump Supporting Contenders

• Sen. John Barrasso is in the Republican leadership, and has migrated into becoming much more conservative and has consistently defended Trump.   (R-WY) is the third highest-ranking Senate Republican and one of former President Trump’s more staunch defenders. While he began his political career as a moderate Republican, the Wyoming Senator has recently become increasingly conservative, but is weak on immigration. 
• Senator Rick Scott has not been one of Old Mitch's favorites as he's been a staunch critic of McConnell.  The trouble is his record doesn't match is rhetoric, as he was aligned with former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan's policies versus Donald Trump's, which is why I find it difficult to understand why he's given an upper 90% approval rating from one of the conservative think tanks. However, here's his view of earmarks:“It’s just like the swamp to take YOUR money, borrow more, and push it all into reckless political pet projects. That’s earmarks in a nutshell.”
• Then we have what's been touted as Trump's choice, Sen. Steve Daines, who I never heard of before this, and who has been a strong Trump supporter, but he's weak on immigration. 

There are others being discussed such as Marco Rubio, who says he's not interested, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, and Sen. Jone Ernst.  Why Senators Mike Lee and John Kennedy aren't included in this mix is a surprise to me, unless they've made it clear they don't want the job.

Here are two things that must be at the top of the list for whomever gets the job. First, unlike McConnell who easily gave in to Democrat demands, and in love with sending untracked billions of dollars to a stunningly corrupt Ukraine government, the next Republican Senate leader must decide his job is to fight for the Republican's priorities, and not the Democrat's, and stop this massively destructive plague of spending and borrowing that's sending the national debt into outer space.  

Second, if the Republican take the Senate they need to end the corrupt tyranny imposed on the Senate by Harry Reid that allowed majority leader prevent senators from offering amendments to bills forcing a take it or leave it position on massive all inclusive bills instead of allowing the Senate to run as it was originally intended by building consensuses crafting bills point by point, battling it out in committee and on the Senate floor.

While it's clear the Republican Senate will be more conservative, will it be conservative enough to give Trump the support he will need, or be sabotaged by feckless invertebrates in the Congress?  

Here's my view in my updated analysis of the 2024 senate race.   If the Republicans take the five seats I'm calling for them, and the three that are tossups go to the Democrats, along with the Independent taking a Republican seat, that will make the Senate a 50/50 tie, meaning the Vice President would be the tie breaking vote in the Senate, and I've come to the conclusion some of these seats will have to be taken on Trump's coattails.   

Since the Democrat/Independent contingent will vote in lock step, and there are so many RINO's who will typically vote with the Democrats, the Democrats will still control the Senate.  The realistic numbers?  50 Democrat/Independents, anywhere from 6 to 10 RINO's at any give time,  leaving 40 to 44 Republicans.  That gives the Senate a potential 60/40 edge over the Republicans, even if the Senate leader is a Republican.  But at least it won't be Mitch McConnell.  

 And if elected, Trump cannot allow his appointees to backstab him at every turn, Trump’s appointees must be fiercely loyal, "That loyalty must be to the Constitution, to We the People, to the administration’s mission, and to President Trump, and that means being willing to shrink their agencies. "