It's not just the House GOP, folks, Senate Republicans are also in disarray as a right-wing faction works to assert its will on the caucus.
That effort will come with a lot more headaches for Senate GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who misplayed his midterm hand in truly historic fashion. Not only did Senate Democrats net a seat in a cycle that McConnell had entirely taken for granted, but no party in power has achieved that feat since 1962. You also have to go all the way back to FDR's presidency in 1934 to find a time when a president's party didn't surrender a single seat.
The Senate GOP's spectacular disaster has given rise to a brotherhood of sorts among a cohort of pro-Trump Senators. The group, which has taken inspiration from the House GOP's so-called Freedom Caucus, includes Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Mike Braun of Indiana, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Rick Scott of Florida, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Lee and Cruz have never had much use for McConnell, Paul is the perpetual wannabe thorn in everyone's side, Braun's an election denier greasing the skids for his home state gubernatorial bid, Scott's got big future plans despite handily losing his leadership challenge to McConnell only weeks ago, Johnson's practically a flat earther with a knack for corruption, and Graham's just covering his bases till he can figure out whether Trump or McConnell will prevail.
The general feeling among the right flank of the caucus is that Senate Republicans haven’t been aggressive enough in using their leverage to make demands. Graham, who proposed a uniquely unpopular 15-week abortion ban in September, appears to think Republicans' biggest shortcoming was not being extreme enough.
“Democrats have done a pretty good job of picking issues that motivate their base and that have wider support among the public,” Graham told Politico. “We need to be doing the same thing. I think a lot of people in the Republican Party don’t see us doing it as emphatically as Democrats.”
It helps that Democrats' policies actually appeal to the masses. But Lindz simply cannot understand why McConnell issued a gag order early in the cycle on revealing the GOP agenda.
Johnson admitted that the dissent among McConnell’s ranks might cause hard feelings, but added that's his tough luck.
"I don't care," Johnson said. “We hope to make an impact. We may have already had our first impact,” he added, referencing the effort to roll back the military's vaccine mandates in the $858 defense authorization bill.
"We'll take our little wins," Johnson cracked.
The group is using a little-known conference rule that provides for any five Republican senators to demand a special conference meeting to debate any given topic.
That got McConnell ally Sen. John Cornyn of Texas thinking—maybe Republicans actually should discuss some of this stuff.
“There’s actually a process by which a group of senators can raise an issue and call a meeting of the conference to discuss it," Cornyn explained of the rule he had only recently learned about. "We do that rarely, but people are eager to have those kind of discussions.”
But one way or the other, consensus may not be in the offing with grandstanders like Ted Cruz around.
“Millions of Americans are frustrated that for the last two years, Senate Republicans over and over again facilitated the Democrat agenda,” Cruz said. “There are a number of us who are meeting regularly and focused on how collectively we infuse backbone in Senate Republicans.”
The last time Cruz decided to stand for something, he led a disastrous national reading in 2013 of Green Eggs and Ham from the Senate Floor, shutting down the government in a failed effort to defund Obamacare.
The Republican Party's favorability rating dropped to 27%, its lowest point in at least three decades of Gallup polling.
Buckle up, America—the GOP fringes now have a toehold in the Senate just like they do in the House. Nothing good can come of it.
That effort will come with a lot more headaches for Senate GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who misplayed his midterm hand in truly historic fashion. Not only did Senate Democrats net a seat in a cycle that McConnell had entirely taken for granted, but no party in power has achieved that feat since 1962. You also have to go all the way back to FDR's presidency in 1934 to find a time when a president's party didn't surrender a single seat.
The Senate GOP's spectacular disaster has given rise to a brotherhood of sorts among a cohort of pro-Trump Senators. The group, which has taken inspiration from the House GOP's so-called Freedom Caucus, includes Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Mike Braun of Indiana, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Rick Scott of Florida, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Lee and Cruz have never had much use for McConnell, Paul is the perpetual wannabe thorn in everyone's side, Braun's an election denier greasing the skids for his home state gubernatorial bid, Scott's got big future plans despite handily losing his leadership challenge to McConnell only weeks ago, Johnson's practically a flat earther with a knack for corruption, and Graham's just covering his bases till he can figure out whether Trump or McConnell will prevail.
The general feeling among the right flank of the caucus is that Senate Republicans haven’t been aggressive enough in using their leverage to make demands. Graham, who proposed a uniquely unpopular 15-week abortion ban in September, appears to think Republicans' biggest shortcoming was not being extreme enough.
“Democrats have done a pretty good job of picking issues that motivate their base and that have wider support among the public,” Graham told Politico. “We need to be doing the same thing. I think a lot of people in the Republican Party don’t see us doing it as emphatically as Democrats.”
It helps that Democrats' policies actually appeal to the masses. But Lindz simply cannot understand why McConnell issued a gag order early in the cycle on revealing the GOP agenda.
Johnson admitted that the dissent among McConnell’s ranks might cause hard feelings, but added that's his tough luck.
"I don't care," Johnson said. “We hope to make an impact. We may have already had our first impact,” he added, referencing the effort to roll back the military's vaccine mandates in the $858 defense authorization bill.
"We'll take our little wins," Johnson cracked.
The group is using a little-known conference rule that provides for any five Republican senators to demand a special conference meeting to debate any given topic.
That got McConnell ally Sen. John Cornyn of Texas thinking—maybe Republicans actually should discuss some of this stuff.
“There’s actually a process by which a group of senators can raise an issue and call a meeting of the conference to discuss it," Cornyn explained of the rule he had only recently learned about. "We do that rarely, but people are eager to have those kind of discussions.”
But one way or the other, consensus may not be in the offing with grandstanders like Ted Cruz around.
“Millions of Americans are frustrated that for the last two years, Senate Republicans over and over again facilitated the Democrat agenda,” Cruz said. “There are a number of us who are meeting regularly and focused on how collectively we infuse backbone in Senate Republicans.”
The last time Cruz decided to stand for something, he led a disastrous national reading in 2013 of Green Eggs and Ham from the Senate Floor, shutting down the government in a failed effort to defund Obamacare.
The Republican Party's favorability rating dropped to 27%, its lowest point in at least three decades of Gallup polling.
Buckle up, America—the GOP fringes now have a toehold in the Senate just like they do in the House. Nothing good can come of it.