Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:42 pm
Enthusiastic Hitler salute aficionado Laura Ingraham, who might possibly become Donald Trump’s first press secretary, called John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Jeff Flake the ‘triumvirate of idiocy’ on her show today.
Take a listen, and see if you are as amused as I am by a Republican complaining about obstruction:
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LAURA INGRAHAM: Obviously Trump will become, officially become, the next president of the United States today after the Electoral College meets. But he is going to have challenges from Republicans on Capitol Hill. And most obvious among the speeds bumps he’ll hit will be [Republican Sens.] John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake, that triumvirate of idiocy. Excuse me. But he’s going to hit some rough waters with them, why?
BYRON YORK: Well because they’ve actually created trouble for other Republicans as well, certainly with McCain and Graham on immigration. You know, those are three of the four members of the — on the Republican side of Gang of Eight, Marco Rubio being the other one. And they’re basically going to fight Trump at every turn. And immediately, not in the long turn, but immediately as Trump tries to get his cabinet picks confirmed in the Senate. Remember you’ve got 52 votes, Republicans have in the Senate, probably just a one vote majority on each of the committees. And if Democrats decide, as they might well do, to unanimously oppose Trump’s nominees. If Republicans don’t all get together, then you’re going to have a problem.
It is certainly to be hoped that Congress will not simply serve as a Trump rubber stamp, given the extremes of some of his policy positions. Republicans have already said “no” to a couple of them but there is more madness in store, as Trump makes apparent from his cabinet picks and every day he can get to his twitter app.
There is plenty to criticize, and there is no reason at all Republicans should not criticize some of Trump’s choices, or ‘Goldman, generals and gazillionaires’ as Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) has dubbed them, given their complete unsuitability for the jobs Trump plans to assign them.
Some of those named by Ingraham, Marco Rubio, John McCain. and Lindsey Graham, have already demonstrated a marked lack of enthusiasm for Vladimir Putin’s best friend, Rex Tillerson, as Secretary of State.
The reality is that just three Republicans – Ingraham’s ‘triumvirate of idiocy’ or another assortment of names – could derail a Trump nominee. Bloomberg pointed out in November that,
“There are a number of Republican senators who either never endorsed Trump or unendorsed him — from conservatives like Mike Lee of Utah and Ben Sasse of Nebraska to more moderate members like John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Susan Collins of Maine and Rob Portman of Ohio.”
It is remarkable that sane legislators standing up to Trump’s extremism can be seen as the problem rather than the solution, but then Ingraham is at least as extreme as Trump, and possibly more so.
We cannot hope to escape a Trump cabinet full of rich white males. At this point, it is a matter of hoping there are enough sane Republicans to keep the hands of some of Trump’s worst picks out of the public trough, and away from the inalienable rights of all Americans.
Because a more crooked bunch you are never going to see.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
