by @SueInRockville and Milt Shook
This has been a banner week for the Trump-led Republican Party. The week started with a tragic loss, which created a virtual vortex in the Republican ideology because it forced them to confront three issues That they don’t exactly like to deal with, and not be strident on one of them. Imagine being the party of demagogues and having to either:
a) express remorse for gay people and their families;
b) accept that immigration wasn’t the problem at all this time, or;
c) admit that an American should not have access to a gun.
Of course, being the modern Republican Party, they decided to have their cake, eat it too and then eat the shit that came from eating the cake.
Of course, the Republicans’ fearful leader, Donald J. Trump, just proved once and for all that his tiny little Cheeto fingers shouldn’t be anywhere near the nuclear button, when he Tweeted:
Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2016
And then, former Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson threw Jesus under the bus in the wake of this horrible tragedy. He demonstrated just how much Republicans have to twist like a pretzel just to talk about horrific events like this. He said:
“We’re looking at a favored group by the left, the homosexuals, and that in Islam is punishable by death or imprisonment or some sanction, so what are the left going to do?…In the meantime, Donald Trump is riding high because he said we should screen these people and he’s absolutely right. We should screen them. So the left is saying, ‘Oh you’re anti-Muslim, you’re racist’ and all this. Suddenly, that part of the narrative doesn’t play too well and they’re stuck as to what to do. But Trump is enjoying a victory.” (Source)
If he thinks this is what Jesus would do, he might have a surprise waiting for him when he finally leaves this earth. He might want to have that asbestos suit made, after all.
Of course, as we reported on this blog, Obama also called out Trump for the idiot he is and made the entire party ideology look bad in the process, because he and Hillary don’t use the term, “radical Islam.” Just to refresh your memory, check it out here.
Then, for a few days after the shootings, Trump talked about it in speech after speech, and pretty much lied his way through everything, once again demonstrating why he doesn’t have the character or the temperament to be in charge of this nation. FactCheck ripped him a new orange opening for the list of lies. Trump also suggested that President Obama was in on the whole thing and that he was somehow complicit in the massacre and actively supports terrorist groups. (Source)
Not to be outdone, former Republican presidential loser stupidly reiterated that later because he’s in serious danger of losing his job if he doesn’t say something outrageous to appease the extremists who make up the GOP “base”. (Source) I’m in Arizona and I can tell you, if he survives his primary race against Tea Party darling Kelli Ward (who, BTW, turned it around and said McCain was directly responsible for terrorism – neener neener), he probably won’t survive in November against Democratic candidate Ann Kirkpatrick.
I (@SueinRockville) might even have a smidgen of sympathy for the sinking of the Trumptanic. I understand it very well. When I was the Director of a large Preschool for many years one of the words coined was “Oopsidentally.” Defined as “something I did purposefully but now I’m in trouble and trying to walk it back.” This week the GOP Follies shows they need it much more as my preschoolers are all grown up.
It was also a really bad week for Republican lawmakers because it turns out they may have to cancel a vacation or two and actually do something for their money. Senate Democrats held a nearly 15-hour filibuster to get Yertle McConnell and the rest of the GOP leadership to consider a couple of gun bills. (Source) Will they pass? Probably not. And that’s not cynicism; they will still need 60 votes to pass and there is no guarantee the House will vote on them. But now, we will have them on record against two measures that almost all Americans can get behind; expanded background checks and a ban on people on the terrorist watch list from being able to walk into a store and buy a gun.