SCREAMING: Here’s why Senate Republicans are at each others throats
Senate Republicans are screaming at each other over lunch.
It sounds like the caucus should strongly consider selling tickets to their lunches now and also put them on pay-per-view.
Trump would. Money is always at the root of politics, and there is money to be made in this situation.
Analysis does almost no good in stories like this until you get the gist of what’s going on with these combative Senate Republicans, so we turn to Capitol Hill savant Jake Sherman of Punch Bowl News:
“Private Senate GOP meetings have devolved into testy exchanges over immigration, Donald Trump and Ukraine, including Tuesday’s closed policy lunch,” said the report. In particular, a handful of Senate Republicans revolted against Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), “questioning whether the Kentucky Republican is using a tentative immigration and border security package as an end run with Democrats to help push through more money for Ukraine.”
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa: Did Jake just write “revolt”? (And he would know the words used by others. I mean, that sounds serious.) Chairs get thrown in revolts.
Whatever they are doing in there, it would seem as though there must be some CCTV of it, right? This would seem like a situation where an attacker with an axe would want to be identified. That tape — the one with the chairs thrown — is worth a fortune.
Back to what’s really going on, there are two sides to the Senate now and for all intents and purposes, just one to the House. But the Senate is plenty powerful. All McConnell has to do is round up nine more of his compatriots and then hope that his brakes aren’t cut on the way home.
One side we’ll call traditional, regular conservative Republicans, stiff upper lip, concerned primarily with shoveling money into the wealthy’s pocket.
The other side — well, guess! They are not fiscally conservative, and I’m not sure if they care where the money goes, so long as it doesn’t go to foreigners. Let’s just call them the MAGA spawn of Donald Trump.
Let’s hear more, Jake:
“Their meetings are devolving into shouting matches. There’s sniping at the leadership, accusation hurling, motivation questioning.”
Well, we can be thankful that “accusation” modifies “hurling.”
The important thing of course is that nothing gets done in the Senate without some serious compromise. And yet how is Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and President Biden supposed to compromise with an entire side that can’t compromise with itself.
And it’s not like it’s close or there is an agreement on the edge — we’d know because the discussion would be more civil. That and the fact that McConnell seems set to block Trump’s most radical ideas and acolytes in the U.S. Senate. McConnell is an institutionalist, perhaps because the institution has been so good to him.
Why change?
Well, yes, there is the fact that Joe Biden would certainly like to get some legislation through. But given that isn’t happening, what now?
Sit back and just imagine the show. Picture Ted Cruz screaming at Marco Rubio. Now that’s entertainment.
Oh!! And we haven’t even really talked about the Senate versus the House… The SEQUEL!!!
This report is based on original reporting by Jake Sherman of Punch Bowl News
I can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com and on “X” @JasonMiciak
Editor’s note: This is an opinion column that solely reflects the opinions of the author
