The House of Representatives is not IN chaos. The Republicans, who are in a slim majority, are CREATING chaos. Kevin McCarthy sold his dignity to the right wing extremists in order to become speaker and he was voted out by the extremists in less than a year for the sin of committing a reasonable action.
Then Steve Scalise, another right wing extremist, was to be the Republican choice but was discarded. Now the repulsive bully, Jim Jordan, seems to be more or less chosen by the Republicans. But, he will never get the needed votes.
With no Speaker of the House of Representatives there is no House of Representatives. So there will be no aid to Ukraine. No aid to Israel. No military. No regulation. No safety net. No government funding for anything. There will be no United States Government. Who does that make happy?
The current explanation is that these extremists are incapable of cooperation and consensus. Authoritarians see anything short of CONQUEST as a failure of MANHOOD. They Don’t Play Well Together. Maybe that is all there is to it.
But I wonder. Are some actually doing what they seem to be doing. Are they actually acting to destroy the American government? Are they actually acting to weakening America? If so, why?
To me, a real possibility is that America’s enemies are targeting many Americans, including politicians, and are finding ways to control them. We know that Russian intelligence operatives are deeply involved in American politics. Media too? We know a little of the way they force people to do their bidding. Kompromat (compromising proof that can destroy their lives and maybe even send them to life in prison - proof of money laundering? Proof of pedophilia? Proof of gay sex? Proof of any number of crimes?).
Or they just bribe them to attack their country. Do they find someone who feels they have never been given proper respect? Or money? Or opportunity? Or maybe they are just simple souls who can be controlled by flattery, or resentment, or celebrity. Easy prey for the Russian SVR.
Russia, or China, or Iran, or Saudi Arabia, or….? There are many countries that may want to knock the “king of the hill” off and take the top spot.
There is a small handful of right wing extremists who “seem” to want to burn down the government and weaken the country.
Maybe that is exactly what they are deliberately doing, because of deep angers or hatreds, or are easily manipulated, or because they have no other choice.
Maybe one of them is The Former Guy. And of course, the “Freedom Caucus”/the Putin Wing/the Deconstruct the Adminstrative Staters.
What this is showing is American Democracy’s vulnerability. We have a handful of Republican extremists holding the government hostage. We have one dimwit Alabama Senator crippling the U.S military. Our enemies may have found and are exploiting America’s structural flaws.
I wonder.
