Republicans Took Out Their Own Speaker. Anything Else is a Lie.

Cable News reacted to the ouster of Speaker McCarthy two days ago in varied ways. 

As usual with these things, there was a momentary confusion among the right wing commentators as they waited for instructions on what their “story” was going to be. In that little lapse, they did what often happens in these moments of no instruction from higher up. Lacking direction on what the “spin” on the ouster was going to be, they said things that were more or less true. 

Fox News commenters expressed revulsion at what the political-office-holding arm of their right wing enterprise had done. For moment, they were saying something that was in the universe of what they actually thought. That’s always revealing when it happens. But it never lasts long.

In a few beats, they began pumping out the lie that the whole edifice of the right had evidently settled on as their “spin” on the debacle in the House of Representatives. McCarthy sounded it when he gave his first interview. 

The acting Speaker Pro Tempore dug into it immediately by kicking Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi out of her office while she was in California attending Senator Diane Feinstein’s funeral. 

I served 10 of my 18 years in office with a Republican majority, and I can testify that committing petty acts of malice against their colleagues is pretty much standard operating procedure for the extreme right wing of the Republican Party. There are better people than that in the party, or there were once, and they once kept a lid on their cruel, bullying colleagues. 

But that Republican Party with good people inside it appears to be dead and gone. 

The Republican Party of today has purged the decent people from itself. Today’s party is owned and controlled by the people who tried to overturn the government of the United States of America and install Trump as an unelected dictator. 

The people sitting on the Republican side in the United States House of Representatives are dominated and run by hard core traitors to America who backed the coup attempt that nearly destroyed our democracy. They use the power of office to attack and harm this country every day they are there. We’ve been watching them do it in real time. 

As criminals always do, they fought any efforts to investigate what they did, and they purged any Republicans who had actually stood for the Constitution and our Republic from their ranks. What we have left is pretty much undiluted evil. 

So, it’s no surprise that petty acts of malice are the order of the day for today’s Republican Congressional delegation. What is interesting is the lie the Pro Tempore used as an excuse for his action. 

According to him, and to McCarthy, and shortly after this Fox News and all the right wing media, the Democrats were the ones who were responsible for McCarthy’s ouster. 

This blatant lie ignores the truth that Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz made the motion to remove McCarthy as Speaker and eight Republicans voted to oust him. That is why he was removed. Republicans took out their own Speaker. Republicans were the only ones who could have taken out their own Speaker.

The Republicans are the majority party. They elect the Speaker. And they remove the Speaker. House governance is entirely their responsibility. Another simple truth is that the Republicans can’t even govern the House. And they have demonstrated repeatedly and consistently that they not only can’t govern America, they don’t want to. 

Everything they’ve done since they’ve taken power has been an attack on this country or an act of petty malice and vengeance against Democrats. Now, they’ve turned the vengeance and petty malice on each other and ousted their own Speaker. 

This asinine lie fits the Republican attitude toward truth. 

There was a time when Republicans told the truth. But that was then. Now, they lie and they don’t care if everyone knows they are lying. 

This ludicrous story that the Democrats are to blame for Republicans making a motion to remove their own Speaker and then removing their Speaker in front of the world is in keeping with the new Republican practice of lying. They lie all the time about everything and they make sure the lies are so absurd, so idiotic, that sane people laugh.

The Republican rule for lies seems to be go big or go home. 

So that’s the “spin.” Republican media rolled it out like the right wing operatives that they are. And, I would guess, the Republican “base” ate it up with a spoon.

That is, of course, the purpose of this lie. Right wing media and Republican office holders know that most people are too intelligent to believe what they’re saying. But then intelligent people are not the target of their lie. 

This nonsensical lying babble is aimed directly at the Republican base. They’re tossing a verbal bone to the base to give them something to gnaw on and soothe themselves with so that the base won’t get restless or too upset and start thinking. 

The Republican base is addicted to phony outrage and hate. It’s a drug for them. Right wing media lies just as obviously and as outrageously as Republican elected officials. They’ve lost huge lawsuits over their lies. But they keep on doing it because it works to control the Republican base and keep them coming back for more. 

It’s like tossing treats to a bunch of trained seals. Only in this case, the “treats” are racism, misogyny, homophobia, libs and anyone else the right can target for a hate session. 

It really looks like right wing media stars are amusing themselves, seeing just how ridiculous they can get and still have the trained seals of the Republican base flap their flippers in response. They’ve attacked M&M candy and gotten their base riled up. They’ve attacked cans of beer and Mickey Mouse and an endless line of celebrities and athletes. 

They’re teaching hate on command. They’re brain-washing. 

And it works. 

No matter how absurd the lie Republicans tell, their base believes it. No matter who they tell their base to hate, their base hates them. 

I have no doubt that literally tens of millions of brain-washed Americans are now mouthing the lie that the Democrats removed McCarthy as Speaker. I also have no doubt that in a very short time, they are going to forget any of this ever happened and move onto whatever they are being told to believe then. 

That leaves the rest of us. If you can hear the lie and know it’s a lie, then you are awake. And if you are awake, that means that God has placed the responsibility for standing up to this insanity on your shoulders. 

I don’t think there’s any point in trying to awaken the people who are entranced with right wing lies. They are addicted to the drug that drugs them. They like the anger. They are fueled by the hate. It has become their god, their family, their friend and, in a horrible, deforming way, their self. 

Pray for them. Never stop praying for them. But don’t try an intervention. We don’t have time for that. 

We’re going to have to save this country ourselves. That should be our focus.