Can Republicans still hit the curve ball?
They're behind in the bottom of the ninth with nobody on base and no plan
The Democrats have got two strikes on Congressional Republicans, who cannot afford to take another one. But they probably will.
If they want to avoid the biggest defeat of their lifetimes, they have to lean into a pitch. They have to take one for the team.
Otherwise, they may be about to give up the ability to win more than a handful of elections in the next several years.
They had one chance of redemption right after the Jan. 6 insurrection: they could have at least tried to talk President Trump into resignation. They let that pitch go by without even a weak swing.
Not trying at all was like a batter so convinced he couldn’t hit the curveball that he never bothered to take his bat off his shoulder. It was pitiful and it looked that way.
After that, they had another shot at gaining a little political health, by voting for impeachment in substantial numbers.
Strike two.
Now, the entire country is seeing the case against Trump. The GOP can’t hit that kind of pitching. No one could. But they have a chance to get on base if they take one in the gut.
They can give their party and themselves a chance by turning on Trump, letting themselves be nailed by a high hard one, politically.
But do they have any guts to put out there? They have to be willing to risk defeats in primaries as Trump’s base may shun them for their disloyalty. Most of them show no evidence of that kind of intestinal fortitude.
They’re silly to be so fearful. Winning a 2022 GOP primary is likely to be a Pyrrhic victory. What good is winning a primary if a Democrat then beats you 3-1 in a blue state, or 5-4 in a red one?
Courage is necessary now. If Republicans don’t want to be political wallflowers for the next several years, they have to admit they hitched their wagon to a legless horse. They have to convict.
I’ve been told I’m wrong about this, however.
Almost every political strategist I’ve asked tells me the same thing: “It’s like a pendulum.” The GOP will swing back into favor in short order, maybe even by the midterms.
But maybe an old reporter can read the tea leaves better than an old politician.
The story of the insurrection keeps getting uglier, we’ve all noticed. And it’s not being driven by the House impeachment managers. It’s being driven by the media. Journalists keep coming up with new pictures, new facts. They're even quoted by the managers. And that trend will continue, proceeding in a way that cannot possibly be good for the GOP.
The facts journalists find will tie Republican congresscreatures ever more closely to what happened on Jan. 6. That will not get them crossover Democratic votes. It won’t even get them independents.
It will get them retired.
The best escape for current Republicans is to grit their teeth and separate themselves from Trump now. They probably won’t, because they’re afraid of him. He still appears to control the biggest chunk of the GOP base.
But Trump is a corrupt businessman, not a real politician. He can’t lead his team back to the first division.
He’s like a pretty good, but not very good, ballplayer, who hits well in his first year or so. But before long, the league figures him out, and he’s done.
If you haven’t figured out Donald Trump, you’re not trying.
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