(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Is It Possible...? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-22 ...That there could be a silver lining hiding in the projected wreckage of Republican-initiated Congressional dysfunction? One that doesn’t rely on unicorns and rainbows, but in fact assumes the worst case scenario? Hear me out: Let’s stipulate that the congressional GOP can’t get it together before the Fed loses authority to fund itself. Basically, we’re then in Groundhog Day territory, but as a re-run of the 1995-96, Gingrich-era government shutdown, which lasted 3 weeks. The 2013 Shutdown, during the Obama administration, lasted 16 days. Many of us remember, that as much as the Obama administration decided to — somewhat controversially — meet Republicans the hostage-takers somewhere in the middle to resolve the situation, the pressure in those pre-MAGA days was substantial enough to also force the nascent Freedom Caucus of the day to c-o-m-p-r-o-m-i-s-e. Politically, things are much, much worse for today’s MAGA’s. So much so, that threats of physical intimidation have become necessary for the extremist minority of the GOP to maintain their grip on the continued Congressional hostage-taking escapade they’ve — I believe somewhat inadvertently — embarked upon (probably at the behest of TFG, if I had to guess). How can they do this? The margin for GOP moderates is too thin to prevent the MAGA’s from exercising a veto over ANY Speaker candidate requiring a conference majority which, while perhaps not planned out this way when Gaetz got McCarthy booted 2 weeks ago, may end up suiting the MAGA’s just fine, as their districts are manufactured to bring about the “destruction of the administrative state” anyway. For them, this is an ‘opportunity’ to vandalize the Deep State even further. From their perspective, there’s no incentive to compromise. That puts Republican moderates in a bind. They know they should be ‘doing the right thing’, but the threats of physical violence will do their dirty work and prevent much movement toward a ‘coalition government’. No Republican will want the full blast of MAGA accusations of ‘TRAITOR!’. So, we’re likely to get a Government shutdown. Perhaps even as long as 1996. Yes, it WILL cost us, economically. There will be victims that will suffer for such Republican legislative vandalism. But the American economy has proven itself resilient enough, often enough, to believe it can also weather a Government shutdown as long as 1996 without permanent consequences. But I believe there will come a point when things will get appear bad enough in the moment — from a PR perspective especially — to overcome the MAGA threats to achieve that ‘coalition government’ — if only as a last-ditch, rearguard attempt to save what’s left of the Republican brand going into an election year, as global markets begin to make themselves felt on the portfolios of the very people who created the current hyper-partisan environment in the first place, through the funding of ‘safe district’ maps under ‘REDMAP Strategy 2010’ (since updated to ‘2020’), that has functioned as a Republican national strategy — an election roadmap, if you will, authored by Republican political strategist and census expert, Thomas Hofeller — to gerrymander enough state and federal legislatures to ‘seize up the gears’ of Government if functional majorities couldn’t be achieved, that was first implemented 11 years ago with it’s public announcement in the Wall Street Journal (March 4, 2010 edition) authored by none other than Karl Rove, ironically a NeverTrumper today. And all this while the 4 trials against the MAGA Menace of Orang-iana are revealing courtroom evidence of the profound moral bankruptcy of TFG, if not also a conviction or two before November 2024. And that will be enough, my friends, to qualify as a possible silver-lining, for Democrats to weather any attempts to leverage the economic hits that the American public will have to weather as a result of the Gaetz-Trump shortsighted maneuver to grind Congress to a halt based on a temper tantrum, and ride Independent and Democratic disgust with the Republican brand specifically to warrant a decent chance at return to full control of the federal government, and possibly many municipalities and perhaps a few state legislatures around the nation. After all, the trend line since 2016 has been a decidedly LOSING one since it got hijacked by donor-facilitated, Trump hucksterism. It wouldn’t be the first time that Everything Trump Touches, Dies, as the failed USFL, four New Jersey casinos, Deutsche Bank’s reputation, and the 2018, 2020, and 2022 elections have borne out. There are still tough times ahead, but I think we can beat the odds on having another shot at saving the Republic (again) in 2024. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/22/2201030/-Is-It-Possible?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/