The GOP is in Chaos! (Duh)
But it’s chaos with a purpose…
When I searched for an appropriate picture for this article, the very first result was one that showed the tiles above spelling out chaos, but it also showed the word “order,” all neatly lined up. On the next page, it only had this one spelling out “chaos.” So, why did I pick this one? Not because this article is about chaos.
Because it isn’t.
It’s about the chaos hiding the order, distracting you from even noticing the order.
Chaos always has a cause. Always. Human relations certainly can be messy, but in large part, we do like some form of order, because order is easier to manage, easier to watch and make sense out of. For that reason, if our relationships fall into disorder or chaos, something causes it. Sometimes that thing is an accident — like an earthquake. Sometimes it’s something unpredictable like an assassination. On purpose, but unpredictable perhaps because of some nutjob.
But sometimes, the chaos has a purpose. A real, live, not-made-up-on-the-spot purpose deliberately planned and acted out for a real reason, hidden behind the mess. An excellent example is oft repeated these days, because it exactly matches our current political situation.
Weimar Republic, Germany, 1930’s. A lot of words have been crafted explaining it, so I won't try, but the short version is that the Nazi Party under Hitler used the Brownshirts as a chaos force to spread violence and a chaotic mess around the country, which caused the German people to get alarmed enough that they picked the Party they saw because of propaganda as the most likely to stop it.
Who could fix things, simply because they caused the chaos in the first place. Easy peasy, right?
But, this time, that isn’t the purpose. At least the people behind the GOP plans aren’t so dumb as to hope that’ll work twice, though there may be a few who are dumb enough…
No their purpose is quite different here.
So, stick with me for a bit, here’s a bit of backstory.
I’ve mentioned much of this before. The real force behind the current mess is Rich White Men. The RWM have been here since the beginning, happily running things and taking advantage of our ignorance and raking in the big bucks. A fairly long time ago, they picked the Conservatives as their “chosen people”, because of their widespread popularity and the similarity between their values and “American values,” to gain votes and maintain power.
Worked fine for a long time, right? Yet, enter the Democratic Party, after the Big Switch of the Southern Democrats changing to Republican after all that icky civil rights stuff. It started to get harder to win elections. So, they subsumed the Evangelicals using Abortion and things looked better for a while until they started to have to gerrymander inside their own Red States. Not good.
Gingrich came in and started all that ungentlemanly stuff and the political lies the Press refused to call lies until Trump. But, before that they’d already started moving towards authoritarianism in the Reagan years, and Gingrich and Co. was just a part of the plan. Things started to get messy with the GOP turning into The Party of No (No values, No solutions, No policies) and simply said No to as many Democratic ideas as possible.
Then came Dobbs, and their boat really started taking on water. So, what’s the plan?
Simple chaos. What does that solve?
Their public relations problem. Remember, they’ve no solutions, so they desperately don’t want Democrats talking about how to solve problems. How do they prevent that?
Chaos. Constant, unstopping, idiotic, clown show level chaos. It keeps the attention of the media, and lets the GOP talk up their accusations against “Old Man” Biden, the Southern Border, Hunter Biden, and whatever thing they can think up next to keep the cameras on them, and not Democrats who want to talk about bills in the Senate, which can’t get passed to solve our economic problems because the House is in…chaos. Something new every day!
The hope is that they can keep the attention to prevent the Democrats from showing the country how an actually functioning Party could work at solving our problems.
So, how do we oppose that kind of thing effectively? Remember, you have to keep something going. Just one big thing might catch the media’s attention for a few days or maybe a week were it big enough, but the Democrats need to short circuit the GOP’s entire clown show. Since they don’t have the numbers in the House, something else is needed.
I’m sure others might come up with other ideas, but remember, you’ve got to keep the media’s attention for the rest of the year before the Primaries cut in, and frankly, as much after that as you can.
I’ve got just the thing. It’ll blow the lid off anything the Republicans can think of, and it’ll short-circuit their current clown show in about ten minutes, and by the time they figure it out, the Trump trials start, and they’re screwed.
Just imagine this.
Out of the blue, with no advance notice, perhaps after some relatively mid-level thing in the Middle East making everyone think it’s about that, Biden announces a nation-wide address. Maybe a few “leaks” come out about the Middle East thing to garner attention.
But once on the air, and a weak sauce kind of thing about that thing, Biden suddenly changes the subject and announces that he’s decided to not run for re-election, and he’s ending his campaign.
Boom. Now he’s got everyone’s attention. Worldwide. But he isn’t finished. Then, he announces that with Harris’ cooperation, there will be an open primary season. Then he thanks us for listening, and signs off. Within the hour, the DNC announces that the Primaries are indeed open, and no preferred candidates are to be shepherded through the process, however they can word that decently, and Harris then announces her candidacy, followed rapidly by at least two other top Democrats.
So, with the simple announcement that he’s no longer a candidate, he changes the entire election and manages to capture the media’s attention, all in one swell foop. And with that, the GOP’s entire campaign of chaos becomes so much toast, and this time, they really do look like clowns.
Would it work? I think it would. Not only does that turn the media away from a constant and by now tiring and idiotic clown show, but it will attract younger voters who will see a chance to move away from my older generation to a younger one who just might understand them for a change.
Don’t get me wrong.
Biden is a good President, and is obviously still mentally sharp as a tack. Assuming he wouldn’t do this and win the nomination, he’s still got my vote.
But as things stand now, the GOP has so much media attention, the Democrats are struggling to get a word in edgewise, the media either focuses on the chaos, or the latest Problem Of The Day, and never gives the Democrats a chance to offer any idea or solutions, certainly not at the volume the GOP commands in the Clown Show, before finding something else to get clicks/views/readers.
But if the Democrats had the courage to do this, the entire game changes. The media would have the perfect excuse to focus on an entire field of new faces (even if some aren’t that “new”), to introduce their readers to the new Presidential race.
And “new” it would be! Speculation over who’s got the better chance, or which candidate has more dirt to hide, or what their past is like, or their voting record, or how they’re seen in their home district/state, the attractions would be endless! The media would be most happy to focus on newer stuff that isn’t about idiots in politics. And for months!
Come on, President Biden. I love ya, yeah. You beat the trumpster and showed him up as the ass he is, and by doing that, saved the country. So, step up and do it again. Believe me, one term for you is going to be honored as much as if you did two. Besides, I’m an old guy myself. I know how tiring this can be. Being mentally sharp is one thing, physical tiring is a completely different game. Believe me, if there’s anyone in this country who deserves a nice retirement, you’re at the top of the list.
