I Do Not Like Them Here or There, I Do Not Like Them Anywhere

Sigh. It’s becoming increasingly, depressingly clear that dubbing Republicans “deplorable” and “Neanderthal” is far too kind to them, never mind deeply unfair to Neanderthals. This weekend, after a 24-hour “vote-a-rama,” the Senate passed Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package; along with potentially cutting in half childhood poverty, the “most progressive domestic legislation in a generation” will help schools safely re-open, expand access to Obamacare, extend unemployment benefits, help feed kids who aren’t in school, fight climate change, fund COVID testing and vaccines, provide rent relief, childcare tax credit, and badly needed stimulus checks to struggling families, and otherwise do a world of good, albeit imperfect, for people in a world of hurt. The final vote was 50-49, with all Democrats voting in favor – thank you Georgia – and all Republicans voting against, because with 10 million unemployed, half a million dead, and millions more facing eviction or hunger or trauma in a still-raging epidemic, why would they vote to help anybody when, in the immortal words of Rob Reiner, “Not one single Senate Republican  gives a flying fuck about the American people” – which is why, when stimulus checks go out, they should bear a note that says, “EVERY REPUBLICAN IN THE HOUSE AND EVERY REPUBLICAN IN THE SENATE DID EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO PREVENT YOU FROM GETTING THIS CHECK.” Because the package is so useful, the GOP melted down over it: The bill wasn’t passed “honestly” because they didn’t let Repubs block it, it’s a “partisan wish-list,” so much for “unity,” they didn’t take any GOP ideas, yada yada. They also slapped together a gaslighting, let’s- shoot-ourselves-in-the-foot video about Dems “ramming through” their plan, evidently unaware people remember when they rammed through SCOTUS judges and a $2 trillion tax cut for their fat cat cronies. On their attacking a bill with massive public support: “This is you giving Americans the middle finger.”

The GOP’s growing ties to right-wing extremists and their rejection of any semblance of political governance is mirrored by the culture wars they keep pushing, because if you literally have no ideas or policies other than staying in power, lies and myths and white grievance is all you’ve got, and stoking the fires of division is way easier than getting things done. Thus we have Texas Gov. Greg ‘No Masks’ Abbott, who stalled getting COVID tests to migrants and now blames them for a surge; Fox’ Tucker Carlson, who calls QAnon rioters “gentle people” and  is “leaning even more heavily into its buffet of culture war cuisine”; and Kevin McCarthy, the finest exemplar of performative bullshit, who posted an excruciating video of himself reading “Green Eggs and Ham” to protest the “outlawing” of Dr. Seuss by radical Dems and their cancel culture, except it was the decision of Dr. Seuss Enterprises to stop publishing six of his 60-plus books due to racist images – Asians “with their eyes all aslant,” Africans as cannibals – arguing they “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong, (and) profiting off books with racist imagery is not something we want to do.” So: A private company made a decision, it does not involve Green Eggs and Ham, the Dems had nothing to do with it because they’re busy doing their job, everyone seems to know that no one is canceling Dr. Seuss except McCarthy, who tried to cancel the election, and other “bad faith actors” who can’t acknowledge that, “Racism is not an aberrant part of American life…it’s a feature.” People responded as you’d expect to an overpaid, oblivious clown who’s voted against a living wage, health care, jobs and COVID relief reading a book that’s still being published while ignoring the actual issue and the rest of reality: “Thank you sir, this is exactly what America is crying out for. Also, how many of your constituents went hungry today?” Also, “WTF is wrong with you?” and “Dr. Seuss would hate you bro” and “Yes, Dr. Seuss evolved. Anyone can.” Except, evidently, Republicans. John Prine, as usual, was right: “Some humans ain’t human.”