Dictatorship Beckons ✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️🌻

Gone But Not Forgotten:  George Santos was voted out of Congress on Friday by a vote of 311 to 214, not because he lied about his heritage, education. or credentials but because of the financial crimes detailed in the bipartisan House ethics report. The final nail in Santos’ coffin came from Max Miller a fellow Republican from Ohio who sent an email to his colleagues telling them that Santos had charged his and his mother’s personal credit cards for campaign contributions that weren’t authorized and that also exceeded federal election law limits.  Though that little nugget convinced a few more Republicans, some of whom were probably also victims of Santos’ scheme, to join almost all Democrats in voting for Santos’ ouster, it wasn’t enough for Republican leadership.  Speaker Johnson and his team, including New York State’s Elise Stefanik, all stood with Santos asserting it was wrong to expel a member of Congress who hadn’t yet been found guilty in a court of law but really because they didn’t want to lose his reliable vote.  Stefanik’s support was notable because the rest of New York’s Republican delegation were among those who’d spoken out most vociferously against Santos, mostly because a number of them, particularly those in districts Biden won in 2020, were and are still concerned that Santos’s is dragging them down, making it more likely than not that they’ll lose their seats in 2024. Santos may be gone from the House but he’s still acting out.  He’s now calling for the ouster of Democrat Jamaal Bowman, saying that because the Democratic Congressman pleaded guilty to breaking the law by pulling a fire alarm, that he’s the one who should be ousted.  In addition, over the weekend Santos said that he plans to file ethics complaints against fellow NY Republicans Nicole Malliotakis, Mike Lawler and Nick Lalota as well as NJ Democrat Rob Menendez this morning.  His claims are that Malliotakis has been engaging in insider trading, that Lawler funneled money from a company he owned to his personal campaign and that LaLota previously held a “no show” job.  His assertion against Rob Menendez is that he is too close to his father, the embattled and likely guilty NJ Senator Bob Menendez who remains in the Senate even though he too should be gone. As to Santos’s replacement, Democrats are expected to name former Congressman Tom Suozzi whose departure from Congress to challenge Governor Kathy Hochel in 2022 helped pave the way for Santos in the first place. Republicans are currently vetting around twenty or so possible contenders, including Mazi Melesa Pilip, an Israeli-Ethiopian immigrant who is also an Israel Army veteran.  By Santos’s standards Pilip would be perfect, as she actually checks most of those boxes he tried to squeeze into without even having to lie about her credentials.  While Pilip would make for an interesting candidate, odds are that the better-known Democrat Suozzi will win the special election scheduled for early next year, setting him up for the main event in 2024.  And it should surprise no one to learn that HBO is working on a Santos movie.  Santos, who is probably already auditioning for Dancing With Stars, and who is likely writing, or more likely plagiarizing a book, is due in federal court next week.         

🤡🤡🤡: Speaker Mike Johnson who should really be focusing all of his attention on passing a budget because both of his bifurcated government funding deadlines are still looming with one group of agencies running out of money on January 19 and the rest running out on February 2, is instead focusing on impeachments.  To placate his 🤡 contingent he’s throwing his support behind a House vote on the opening of an impeachment inquiry into President Biden.  There is no evidence that either Biden or House Homeland Security head Alejandro Mayorkas who is also on the chopping block have committed any impeachable crimes but that’s not the point.  Johnson says he has the votes to proceed with a formal inquiry and he might since the same NY Republicans who pushed to oust Santos and who should be wary of voting to impeach Biden need money for their campaigns and Johnson controls the purse strings.  To further muddy the waters, House Oversight Chair James Comer has subpoenaed Hunter Biden, who is not and has never been a government employee but is Joe’s son, to testify before a closed-door hearing of his committee.  Hunter’s position is that he’d be happy to appear, but he wants to be interviewed in public because though he maybe troubled, when sober he’s no fool and knows that testifying in private would give Comer and his co-conspirators friends ample opportunity to engage in what Hunter’s lawyers say will be selective leaking, the release of manipulated transcripts, doctored exhibits, and one-sided press statements.  Comer wants a private hearing because he wants to do all those things and because his prior public hearings haven’t turned out well, exposing him to a lot of ridicule.  In other pressing legislative news, the Senate is still fighting over Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan aid with Republicans seeking to tie military aid to more border funding and Democrats saying that’s not acceptable even though some of them agree with Republicans on border issues so odds are a compromise will be worked out soon.

Fog of War:  The Hamas-Israel war is no longer on pause.  The usual players are pushing for a ceasefire because war sucks, too many are being killed and those nice Hamas guys will stop their terrorizing when a ceasefire is in place.  Israel wants more time to eradicate, or at the very least, further damage, Hamas.  Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, the head of the Progressive caucus who way before October 7 told us her views on Israel by calling the country a racist state, something that she retracted though she didn’t want to, unsurprisingly is one of those calling for a ceasefire.  Jayapal didn’t help herself or her argument by hedging and hawing when asked by CNN’s Dana Bash why she and the other “progressive” members of Congress have been silent on the issue of Hamas’ sexual violence against Israeli women during the October 7 massacre.  Jayapal’s response was full of “buts” and “howevers,” not a good look and one that, together with the UN’s silence, explains why the hashtag #MeTooUnlessYouAreAJew is trending on X (Twitter).           

Flashing Lights Ahead:  Liz Cheney says that Republicans holding the House after the 2024 election would be a threat to democracy.  In the Washington Post Robert Kagan, a contributing opinion editor says it’s time to “stop the wishful thinking and face the stark reality” because Trump who will be the Republican candidate represents a “clear path to dictatorship in the US.” If that sounds alarmist, listen to Trump who admitted last week “We've been waging an all-out war on American democracy.” Though it would be nice to think that the US justice system will save us, forget about it. Last Friday’s ruling that Trump is not immune from civil and criminal cases provides little comfort because it will be appealed and even if upheld by the Supreme Court could be too little too late because by the time he’s tried and convicted, to the extent he ever is, Trump could be back in power.