Two years of electile dysfunction in one photograph
Republicans have won the House of Representatives. A sad fact, but a fact nonetheless. Their margin of error is smaller than Donald Trump’s hands, so every regular piece of the Nation’s business is going to go down to the wire. Not to jump too far ahead, but McCarthy will end up making deals with Democrats to end shutdowns, and will be pilloried for it. But I digress.
What we can expect, and what Jim “No Jacket Required” Jordan eagerly awaits, is Benghazi Part 2: featuring Hunter Biden and the Afghanistan Withdrawal.
There’s little to be done to protect Hunter. And we can expect that the media, in the absence of any legislative news, will glom onto this Republican sideshow. Republicans will also be trumpeting their nothingburgers from the rooftops, as they will be seeking any distraction from the utter shitshow that is their caucus.
On the topic of Afghanistan, however, I think there may be an opportunity for Democrats. First, the Trump playbook of delay, delay, delay should be implemented. While we generally are the party of good government, let’s not too hastily forget the way the Trump administration provided as little cooperation as possible on any front. Biden folks should never say it out loud, but proxies should be used to bothsides the delays. “Mike Pompeo wasted a bunch of time, why can’t we?”
Once actual Committee appearances begin, however, that’s when the real fun begins. Every Biden administration answer should begin with a preface of the Afghanistan policies under the Trump administration. Strong criticism of the Trump administration is available to be levied, and should be.
This has the magical effect of wasting more time, possibly frustrating the Chair, but most importantly, it will drag The Former Guy into the conversation. Trump will not be able to resist criticism from the hearings. He will have to respond. In his need to punch back, he will make himself the center of attention, which is exactly what will return a Democrat to the White House in 2024.
The pink trickle of the 2022 mid-terms was precisely because Trump remained on the ballot. We should take every opportunity to remind voters of how loathe they are to see him returned to power.
My personal take is that this Congress’ attempts at oversight are going to be a flop. Dragging Hunter’s dirty laundry into the spotlight isn’t going to hurt a sitting President the way that Benghazi might have injured Hillary. And it’s sad to say, but Afghanistan went on for too long, and was too far from the minds of the American people to have much of an impact. There’s just not that much hay to be made from the Global War on Terror anymore.
The best can be made of the hearing though. Let’s throw some punches at Trump. It’ll be fun.
