December 23, 2017
While we were watching the Republicans raid 99% of Americans to enrich the .1% in slack-jawed horror, we may have missed ominous signs that an emboldened administration was doubling down on its racist authoritarian impulses. This week, ICE leaked that it was considering a new policy of separating children from their parents in order to discourage illegal immigration (Source: “Trump Administration Considers Separating Families to Combat Illegal Immigration,” by Caitlin Dickerson and Ron Nixon, The New York Times, 12/22/17). What has come into frightening focus this week, though, is that Congressional Republicans have transitioned from Trump’s supine enablers to his enthusiastically sycophantic helpmates.
In the immediate aftermath of the Great American Tax Heist (h/t Charles Blow), we were treated to the sickening spectacle of Cabinet members obsequiously praising the narcissistic fraud for his greatness, followed by dead-eyed Puritan, Mike Pence, leading Senate Republicans in a prayer to their orange deity. As Masha Gessen pointed out, the revolting display is a worrisome sign that we are hurtling headlong into fascism without hitting a speed bump.
Some members in Congress have gone beyond bootlicking. A cabal of Congressional Republicans is looking to consolidate Trump’s hold on power, despite mounting evidence of his treasonous collaboration with Russia and his overall criminality. We learned that a subset of the House Intelligence Committee, led by purportedly “recused” Representative Devin Nunes, has been meeting in secret and conducting a parallel examination of the evidence submitted in their Russia investigation, with an eye toward proving that the FBI and DOJ are rife with Clinton partisans on a “witch hunt” to damage Trump (Source: “House Republicans quietly investigate perceived corruption at DOJ, FBI,” by Kyle Cheney and John Bresnahan, Politico.com, 12/20/17). They have done this without notifying any of the Democrats on the Intelligence Committee, in direct contravention of the rules. In their zeal to provide cover at all costs for their “Dear Leader,” these Republican representatives are heedless of the severe damage that they are wreaking on democratic norms and government institutions. Some would argue that is the point. This is a surreptitious, but vicious, attack on the Rule of Law. All their talk of coups and corruption are projections – accusing others of what they, themselves, are guilty of.
The question we ask is, “Why?” One answer is that Trump may not be the only one in the federal government compromised by entanglement with Russian government interests. In 2016, Congressional Republicans received an avalanche of contributions from numerous businesspeople with close ties to Kremlin-linked oligarchs. In the 2016 cycle alone, individuals with close business ties to the Kremlin contributed $10.4 million dollars to American politicians, 99% of which went to Republicans, including Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio and McConnell’s Senate Leadership Fund, (Source: “How Putin’s proxies helped funnel millions into GOP campaigns,” by Ruth May, DallasNews.com by The Dallas Morning News, 12/15/17).
This revelation adds another dimension to Republican foot dragging, obfuscation and misdirection on the Russia probe. It is quite possible that Mueller’s investigation will end up ensnaring more than just Trump. The stench of corruption wafting from the Capitol is overwhelming. Like the familiar horror movie trope, we need to understand that the monster is in the House…and the Senate.