That is the question of the hour.
Very stupid?
Extremely stupid?
Transcendentally stupid?
Yes.
You think the party's leadership has reached peak dumb and then – for the first and only time in history – the GOPe exceeds your expectations. You might think, in the wake of yet another couple of humiliating defeats, the Establishment would undertake a deep and searching personal inventory, but if it did that then it would not be the dumbest leadership of the dumbest party in American politics. And American politics includes the Libertarian Party.
We have three big issues right now where the GOP establishment is at a fork in the road. One path ahead is consistent with conservative principles, with the base's inclinations, and with not being brain-dead half-wits. The other path is what the Republican elite will probably do.
Issue One is Sen. Thom Tillis's inexplicable decision to cavort with the communists to secure amnesty and ensure the resulting chain migration of millions of people who will follow behind the illegal aliens he wants to reward for breaking our laws. Look, Tillis was never going to get confused with Stephen Hawking, but this is a remarkably dumb move even by GOP standards. It is terrible policy that directly insults the base after the party has blown two unblowable elections in a month and helps our enemies – it's a lose-lose-lose. Perhaps he convened a council of renowned idiots to come up with an initiative that combines treating the base like Taylor Swift treats her exes with handing the enemy millions of votes while making a mockery of the rule of law. Well, the Great Idiot Council did a great job.
The Tillis Plan is actually remarkable in its comprehensive idiocy. Basically, Tillis allows millions of illegal aliens to become Democrat-voting citizens – and import their entire families – in return for the Democrats pinky-swearing that they will sort of enforce the law that is already on the books a little more than they are doing now, which is none. No wall, of course. No stepped-up deportations. Nothing but a promise from an administration that has already refused to keep its promise to enforce the law. Charlie Brown would see this football pull coming. Wimpy will be at Tillis's door dunning the Senator for burger money for which he will happily repay him Tuesday. And then he'll stiff him.
Really – is Tillis stupid? This seems more than normal dumb. It seems pathological. Does he need a clinical workup? It's charitable to assume the senator is merely a dumbass – hell, every one of us remembers every other "amnesty for broken promises" scam, so why doesn't he? The alternative is that Tillis is in active collusion with our enemies. After all, what would he be doing differently if he was?
Is whichever Carolina he represents until his ass gets primaried some sort of hotbed of pro-illegal alien coddling? I doubt it. One wonders where Tillis got the idea that what the Republican base wants is to throw out the red carpet to a bunch of illegal aliens and their entire family trees. The base is going nuts about the border being left open and Tillis thinks the "border security" fig leaf is going to hide the unit the Democrats will use on us good and hard.
Who is happy about Tillis's brainstorm outside of the Democrats? Maybe Big Business, to the limited extent it is distinguishable from the Democrats these days. And it certainly takes the heat off of Senator John Cornyn, whose own self-own of supporting gun control – because we sent the Republicans to Washington to help the Democrats pass gun control, right? – was similarly baffling. No one in the Republican Party outside of Washington, D.C., wants amnesty. No one. How many times do we need to say it? And you can label illegal aliens "undocumented workers," "dreamers," or "actors of love" all you want. They broke our laws. They get nothing but the boot. They can kiss our amnesty.
Look, it's pretty clear that Thom Tillis is the Mazie Hirono of the GOP, the dumbest member of a dumb party. Again, that's being charitable. It's the best-case scenario. The more cynical among us might suspect that Tillis knows exactly what a complete betrayal of the already betrayed-out GOP base this is and simply does not care. But I have faith in Thom Tillis. I think he's just really stupid.
The other two big stupidity issues currently facing the party are the Republican National Committee chair race and the House Speaker contest. They both have the capacity for major idiocy as well. In the RNC Chair race, the great Harmeet Dhillon has challenged five-time loser Ronna McDaniel – way to lose that Georgia run-off (again), Ronna!
How many times does Ronna McDaniel have to fail before it dawns on the establishment that maybe – just maybe – she is not very good at her job? But hey, maybe the sixth time's the charm!
Ronna is running on a platform of "I'm going to focus on corralling enough votes from establishment insiders who don't care about winning real elections to make sure I win mine." She has not asked the GOP base for support – because the base is an afterthought – and she sure as hell does not have it. My informal Twitter poll of 5,992 people showed her winning a statistically astonishing .6% of the vote. Hell, you can't get 99.4% of Americans to agree that Rage Against the Machine sucks, but that number agrees Ronna does.
The GOP establishment, which does the voting, can 1) choose a talented and smart lawyer who has fought election battles, knows how to communicate, and has not lost every election she has presided over, or it can 2) stick with the five-time loser in the hopes she suddenly stops being terrible at the job she's been terrible at for years. The smart move is to show the base that the GOP is ready to improve and to prepare itself for 2024. The dumb move is not to. The GOP establishment best think carefully. Our patience is exhausted. GOPe – time to hand Ronna a silver Seiko – gold watches and coffee are for closers – thank her for her service, and send her off to a nice job at some think tank where she can't do any more damage.
The other current dumbfest is the Speaker fight in the House. A bunch of people dislike Kevin McCarthy. I'm not a fan. But who else comes close to getting 218 votes? And what are the risks if this fight does not resolve? They are grave. This fight must end – now.
McCarthy needs to compromise with the Freedom Caucus guys. Conversely, the Freedom Caucus guys, who I sympathize with, need to compromise and get on board. No one gets everything they want – next time, win so decisively that you can. But neither side did, so neither side gets to dictate terms. Time to elect Kevin McCarthy Speaker. And I'm not thrilled to write that. But here's the problem with a coup – you need a guy to replace the guy you couped and there is no one else who has the votes. You can't replace someone with no one. And there's no one else ready, willing, and electable.
Wish there was. There isn't. Eschew emotion and focus on the facts. Facts famously do not care about your feelings. The danger, and it is a danger, is that the razor-thin House majority – thanks again, Ronna! – means a dozen or so "moderate" Republicans can unite with the Democrats to elect a "moderate" Speaker who, of course, will not be moderate at all. The bottom line is that this posturing could cost us a majority – it has happened out in the states in exactly this way. Don't think it could happen here? Well, my friend, you have a lot more faith in the ability of the GOP not to be stupid than I do.
Freedom Caucus, pick your battles. This is not one of them. Kevin McCarthy, compromise with the Freedom Caucus. Make a deal. All of you – including the ones I like and am friendly with – get this done.
Don't be stupid, GOP.
Surprise us all.
And somebody please primary that idiot Thom Tillis.