Neutering a corrupt Senate
The Senate is, by definition, antithetical to populism. Watch November 13.
Identical to what occurred in Rome, the U.S. Senate has degenerated into a nexus of corruption. The majority of its Republican members are as dirty as its Democrats. It was the senators who murdered Julius Caesar. Why? Because he was a populist, threatening their financial interests. Rome’s senators were avariciously looting the provinces. It would have been legitimate for them to impose reasonable taxes on the provinces, but they were bleeding the provinces dry in an orgy of greed. If left alone, they would have eventually led to Rome's downfall. Caesar was determined to stop this practice. Upon Caesar’s death, on March 15, 44 B.C., Rome was thrust into a 13-year civil war which did not conclude until his nephew Octavian (later: Augustus) eventually prevailed and Rome’s imperial era began.
The Senate was turned into a rubber stamp for Augustus, its first emperor. He chose to retain the outward form of the Senate, but in actuality it became merely a collection of stenographers. It would be ideal if the same can be done to our Senate. And this will occur, sooner or later. Why? Because we are transitioning from democracy to a principate, an imperial administration. That too will eventually collapse from an excess of corruption, something long into America’s distant future.
For now, the single focus is upon transitioning Congress into a ceremonial body serving to rubber stamp legislation drafted not by lobbyists, but from the White House. Congress has been the means by which the oligarchic class has obtained power. Friction will develop during the early phases of the Trump 47 administration. Any members of Congress who buck the incoming tide will have Trump’s wrath descend upon them, Liz Cheney style.
The current race to succeed Mitch McConnell as the GOP’s Senate leader is a contest between John Thune, John Cornyn, and Rick Scott. Thune has long been Mitch McConnel’s understudy. Cornyn is too dumb to be the leader. Scott is the only acceptable option.
There is no love lost between Trump and Thune. Thune recently urged Trump to butt out of the Senate leadership contest. Thune has represented South Dakota (population 919,000 — 0.27% of the national population) in Congress since 1997, first as a representative, then as a senator for the past 20 years. Federalism is all well and good, but for a hack from a tiny state to wield so much power in the world’s greatest superpower, is politically unsustainable. Maybe such a farce could have continued up until 2024, but a populist tsunami just broke across America’s shores.
Senator Mike Lee has come up with a brilliant option to bypass the fetid Senate Majority Leader contest. J.D. Vance becomes President of the Senate on January 20. Lee suggests Vance should simultaneously be elected by Republicans as their leader. This would represent the total domination of Trump over the Senate. It would be the best outcome and enable Trump to fast track the many reforms Americans demand. Presidential domination of the Senate needs to, and will inevitably, occur. The sooner this takes place, the sooner the nation can move forward from the tyrannies perpetrated by the legislature of a late-stage democracy. Who do you think got us hopelessly in debt? Or funded gratuitous wars?
Trump has already called for a constitutional amendment to place term limits on members of Congress. The problem with senators is that their term exceeds a presidential term. Trump could target a Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger without needing to wait six years. A senator reelected in 2022 will have his term expire simultaneously with Trump in early 2029.
An historical note: Somewhere along the way, either from Senator Lee or from those who passed along his idea, the notion appeared that John Adams, America’s first Vice President, served as the first Senate Majority Leader. This is nonsense. It required about a century for the concept of majority and minority senate leaders to evolve. Adams, and every vice president, was constitutionally the President of the Senate. Adams became the first, and last, Federalist party president. But he was never Senate Majority Leader. And nobody else was either, for a long time afterward.
In his buddy-buddy chat with CNBC’s insufferable never-trumper Joe Kernen, Thune repeatedly mentioned that the Senate leadership election is a secret vote. Contrast that with the open process for the House Speaker election. This tells us all we need to know about the Senate’s endemic corruption. It would be exceptionally helpful for Trump proxies to begin making noises insisting that the Senate vote be held in the full sunshine. Kevin McCarthy would likely still be Speaker if the House practiced secret voting.
Thune’s comments were telling, in response to Kernen asking if he knew who Trump favors for the leadership position:
Obviously, if he wants to, he could exert a considerable amount of influence on that. But honestly, I think, my preference would be, and I think it’s probably in his best interest to stay out of that. These secret ballot elections are probably best left to the senators, and he’s got to work with us when it’s all said and done. But whatever he decides to do, that’s going to be his prerogative. . . . We’re going to have that election next Wednesday, and we’ll have a new leader.
Got that? Screw you populists. Mark your calendar, November 13. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the secret vote details leak out? Don’t forget, Vance is one of those voting. McConnell has been the GOP leader for 18 years. Good riddance.
Further undermining the MAGA agenda in the Senate are the two Democrats masquerading as Republicans: Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Like Thune, they represent small states but exercise a disproportionate impact on national affairs. Collins’s state voted for Kamala with 52.1% of the vote. This month it also reelected independent Senator Angus King, who like Collins, is essentially a Democrat.
Name one thing Thune ever accomplished or advocated for in the Senate. You can’t. Which is the problem. His oligarchic patrons can answer that question, but the rest of us can’t. The Senate Majority Leader determines the chamber’s agenda, makes committee and chairmanship assignments, and controls the pursestrings for political spending. Thune’s mentor McConnell funded anti-Trump former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s losing senate seat battle with millions, but would not give Kari Lake, Ted Cruz, or Rick Scott a dime. Hogan, who doesn’t appeal to either conservatives or liberals, lost his Senate race by a margin of 44.9% to 52.7%. Responding to Trump’s endorsement of him, Hogan declared, “I didn't seek it, I didn't want to have it and I have no interest in it." Lake, who would have been a phenomenal VP pick for Trump, won her Senate race. Whether she gets to occupy that seat is the question. The way we know she won is because it took Arizona so long to count votes; and the total number of votes to be counted climbed as phony ballots were inserted into the stack. Democrats were forced to spend $125 million against Lake.
McConnell poured millions into Hogan’s race, as did majority leader candidates Thune and Cornyn, both of whom would vie for Hogan’s support if he won. Josh Hawley has committed to Cornyn, thanks to the money Cornyn raised for him. That’s how the game is played. Cornyn recently boasted to donors that he has raised over $400 million during his 22-year Senate career. That works out to $18 million/year. If you wonder why a nobody who is not too bright can be in contention for one of the most powerful positions in Washington, wonder no more.
According to The Hill, McConnell uses his control over PACs to discipline GOP senators:
McConnell pointedly reminded Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) how much of a role the group played in his 2018 election when Hawley last year proposed a bill to limit corporate political giving.
The bipartisan Senate is an enemy to the MAGA coalition. It stands for everything wrong in Washington. The checks and balances woven into the Constitution were appropriate for a democracy. Now that democracy has degenerated into tyranny, these checks and balances now serve to perpetuate the unacceptable status quo, which must be jettisoned for America to move forward.
Pay attention to who Ohio’s RINO Governor Mike DeWine appoints to the Senate seat J.D. Vance leaves behind. Ramaswamy craves it. Ohio residents Ramaswamy and Vance are tight. Vance’s son is named Vivek. As we have repeatedly pointed out, Ramaswamy is a fast-talking weasel and no conservative. Because he is so slick, he poses a grave threat. Were he to get into the Senate, this narcissist will begin to suck up much of the oxygen and take steps toward the presidency he lusts after. The nation will have dodged a bullet if DeWine instead appoints a mediocre hack who will vote along party lines.
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner foresaw a high-tech, orwellian, dystopian police state in the future. What we got was San Francisco’s poop-plastered streets with its zombie apocalypse of insane druggies (the so-called “dually diagnosed”) sprawled across streets, shoplifters sytematically ransacking stores with impunity, and FBI agents recording license plates of parents packing school board meetings to protest their daughters being forced to shower with males. Mark Twain was on to something:
In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he created school boards.
We did get the Teslas, though, with a side order of tens of millions of illegal migrants welcomed in to tear down the nation. Enter the chatterbox Ramaswamy, the perfect Orwellian character to hypnotize the masses with a vapid stream of “1776,” “two-parent families,” “courage”, “truth,” and “people my age and younger, we are hungry for meaning.” In other words, he is courageous, he tells us the truth, he can offer meaning. Younger audiences, in particular, fell for this act. Older folks, not so much. They have seen bullshit artists sophists before. As Neitzsche observed, talking too much about yourself can also be a means to conceal yourself.
You can take your picks of interactive poop maps, including the one by Open the Books or the version by Rio Hondo College.
On the opposite coast from San Francisco we experienced another, geriatric, zombie apocalypse in the Senate and White House.
Why do senators remain in office so long past their expiration dates but House members rarely do? Because there are only 100 senators, their terms are three times as long, and their earnings value is therefore so much greater. Feinstein had no idea where she was in the end. It was Weekend at Bernies. Those behind her, including her staff, were unwilling to do the decent thing and allow her to retire. Too much cash was on the line.
Trump has an enormous list of things to accomplish in his second term. The first two years will be especially critical while he has the House under GOP control. Bending the Senate to his will is at the top of that list. Some have speculated there will be a negotiated settlement between Trump and Thune. Senator Lee’s idea offers a real possibility of success. The odds of it succeeding could be increased by a public pressure campaign applied to the GOP senators. It is not just about whether Trump’s nominees and treaties are confirmed by the Senate. It is also about which senators are placed on which committees and chairmanships, especially Intelligence and Judiciary.
Trump’s tax cuts expire next year. Renewing them will be at the top of the agenda. A corrupt, complex tax code is how members of Congress shake down special interests for carve outs. Unilateral tax reductions don’t do anything for Senators with their palms out. Trump must also navigate the wilderness of Senate egos, many of whom possess presidential ambitions. This battle may be about to be settled behind closed doors, or it could become protracted and spill out into public view. We’ll soon see.
The Deep State elements within the federal bureaucracy can not exist without their Senate cohorts. Especially those on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Judiciary Committee. Just because Trump won and narrowly obtained control of the House does not mean there will be easy sailing for him in the Senate. Grassroots heat may need to be directed at senators if the MAGA movement is to succeed. This includes singling out individual senators for retribution at their next reelection.