Republican devolution: From championing abolition to paying tribute to the Don

The Republican Party was born in opposition to slavery. It championed liberty and inclusion, welcoming members from many political persuasions into the ranks so long as they supported the goal of abolition. In the ensuing 170 years it has evolved a lot, morphing into a home for those who favor oppression rather than oppose it; those who hoard wealth rather than use it to better society; those who wish to impose their religiosity and morality on others rather than defend freedom of faith and values.

It's impressive, really, how much of a fun-house-mirror distortion the GOP is now from its beginnings. It didn't take all that long to start morphing; after the failure of Reconstruction, the party fractured into racist and non- (or less-) racist wings (the "Lily-Whites" and the "Black and Tans"). The former became "conservative Republicans" that preferred maintaining discrimination in the defeated Confederacy as a means of healing the reconstructed nation. Fracturing continued with disagreements on economic policy and corruption joining the rift on civil rights, and by the turn of the 20th century the core of what we have today as the modern Republican party was in place—it just took 60-80 years, depending  on your metrics, to alienate out everyone else that still held to less selfish ideals.

Then another 20 to entrench the party as corrupt, irresponsible, and opposed to the well-being of the nation as a whole in favor of the greed and consolidated power of a few; then another 16 to become truly and fully modeled on organized crime and the mafia.

The alleged president often takes hostages, like he did this past week with the overwhelmingly supported housing bill that passed both houses of Congress by huge margins, refusing to sign it unless the Senate also passed a voter-suppression law, essentially telling Congress, "nice bill ya got here—be a shame if somethin' happened to it." But it's really Congressional Republicans that are the problem. The Godfather can't succeed without support from his Capos and their crews, and the Speaker of the House isn't bothering to hide the fact that he's the top Capo in the DJT Mafia.

Speaker Mike Johnson, or "Holy Mike," if you prefer, said this in an address to the "Faith and Freedom Coalition" yesterday:

If we were to lose these midterms, heaven forbid, these Democrats—y’all, impeachment’s not even the big concern—they will turn every committee of Congress into an investigative body, and they’ll go after the president’s family, the cabinet, his donors and friends, half of you in this room will be targeted. I run the protection program. I’ll take care of you.

There's Holy Mike threatening me with a good time. A Congress that actually conducts oversight? That investigates malfeasance? That opposes criminality in government? Yes, please.

But he sees those things as a different sort of threat. I don't know about "half of you in this room" being worthy of Congressional investigations—certainly possible given Holy Mike's in-person audience there, largely GOP donors and electioneering footsoldiers from Ralph Reed's twisted-Christian army—but yeah, the president's sons' corrupt government contracts; cabinet officers' incompetence, corruption, and abuses of power; people bribing the regime (Holy Mike is calling them "donors"); all ripe for committee subpoenas and referrals for charges. But is even that enough for Holy Mike to consider a threat? Does he think investigations will lead to him? He's a capo, maybe the most powerful one, and despite his utter fecklessness at being Speaker of the House, he has thus far prevented untold scandals from becoming catastrophic for the regime. What crimes has he committed in the process?

Or, maybe he sees a takedown of the regime and/or exposure of all the criminality still hidden beneath the surface as an indirect threat to himself. As he himself put it, he runs the protection program. And if he fails to protect the regime, the regime will ruin him? Seems a likely fear. Cross the Don, or even appear to cross the Don, and even a Capo might be taken out in a message job. With just the slightest provocation from the Don, the pardoned thug army of enforcers would just change "Pence" to "Johnson" when they build their next gallows and chant as they riot.

"I run the protection program." What a thing to say.

Having identified the president's family, cabinet officers, GOP financiers, and "friends" of the president as being in need of protection, having insinuated that the audience at the "Faith and Freedom" event needs protection, having admitted that he runs a protection "program," the question Holy Mike needs to be asked by every reporter in the country is, "what are you protecting them from?" Of course, he would say "witch hunts" or something along those lines, but he knows full well that it's really only his crowd that engages in made-up accusatory behavior. What he's telling people to be afraid of are prosecutions for real malfeasance.

The Independent reported on it with a direct and honest headline no American publication would use today: "Mike Johnson warns roomful of conservatives to reelect Republicans or face prison."

The vast majority of elected Democrats don't need such protection because they aren't criminals. "If you don’t want to be prosecuted for crimes," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, "don’t do crimes." AOC elaborated on Holy Mike's remarks, noting that he is trying to "protect a class of impunity in America that says, ‘You can commit whatever crime, and so long as you pay a check to us, we will protect you.’ And that is a model of extortion in American politics."

November can't come fast enough. Depose Holy Mike from his Speakership, investigate every scandal, impeach the whole regime. Or we'll all be sleeping with the fishes.