Romney and Jones Take a Small Step in the Right Direction

These are strange days. How else can you describe it when democrats come out en masse to praise the courage of a guy like Mitt Romney. That would be the same Mitt Romney who proved himself to be an obnoxious elitist asshole when he ran against Barack Obama in 2012. So much so it could be argued that it was his condescending snobbery, not his politics, which was the prime reason Obama enjoyed a second term in the Oval Office.

Of course way back in 2012 presidential candidates at least attempted to act presidential. Four years later that all went out the window as the nation succumbed to the school yard obscenities and crazed lies of Donald Trump. Indeed, Trump's concept of politics channeled not those of Abraham Lincoln--who Trump assumed was a democrat until informed otherwise--but rather Filipino strongman, Rodrigo Duterte and other autocratic thugs.

In August of 2019 El Donald proved it to any doubters by trying to extort Ukraine with an arms for political dirt deal. All manner of shit hit the fan after what amounted to a mob protection scam became public. By the time the House was done with its investigation Trump was impeached on two counts. One for abuse of power and the other for obstructing congress.

To make a long story short every Senate republican voted to let him off the hook except one, the gentleman from Utah. Yeah, kinda sort of. While voting to remove the President from office on the abuse of power charge Mr. Romney voted to acquit when it came to obstructing congress.

That was enough though. The other day, Don Trump Jr. raged Mitt Romney was now a part of The Resistance and should be expelled from of the GOP. Conspiracy theories flew. Mitt was attempting to subvert the Trump administration because he was planning another run at the White House. The Big Orange Guy went on Twitter to hint Romney had financial links to Burisma the Ukrainian energy company at the center of the Biden controversy. He had no proof, but when has he ever needed two bit trivia like proof. Then the chairman of the Conservative Political Action Committee Conference not only refused to invite Romney to the annual right wing orgy, but told the media the Senator's life could be in danger if he attended. "People are so mad at him," said, Matt Schlapp.

Democrats all over the place nodded and pumped their fists. Ah yes, at last a republican who votes his conscience rather than his party, or more realistically his fealty to Lord Trump. However Mitt Romney's vote, despite all the whoop dee doo, wasn't the bravest in the chamber that day. No that honor goes to Doug Jones, the Jr. Senator from Alabama.

Romney doesn't face re-election in Utah until 2024, an eternity when it comes to American politics. Senator Jones, a democrat, is representing a state as red as the Chinese flag and his neck is on the line this November. So far he has seven GOP opponents, including, Jeff Sessions, the guy who quit the very seat Jones now holds wanting to replace him.

The tale of how Jones arrived in the Senate is a tad convoluted, if not surreal. Sessions resigned in order to be abused by Trump on a daily basis while serving as his first Attorney General. The Alabama Governor appointed a guy named Luther Strange to fill out part of Sessions' term. Later, Strange, despite tepid support from Trump, lost the GOP nomination to former Judge, Roy Moore in a special election.

Between then and November it was discovered Moore had a history of severe creepiness when it came to young girls who worked in local malls. Jones edged him out by 22,000 votes in the fall of 2017. It was, despite Moore's dubious past behavior, considered an upset.

Besides Sessions, the most prominent republican hopefuls in 2020 are former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville and the aforementioned mall rat, Roy Moore. Sessions, despite the vile treatement doled out by Trump, is promising the President his full support. Tuberville ran an ad the other day during which he claimed Trump was a gift from God. Moore says he is fighting the, "fake news." To prove it he filed a $40 million law suit against the Washington Examiner.

Don Trump carried Alabama in 2016 with 62.1% of the vote. That is landslide territory, so in truth this November is going to be a tough nut to crack for Doug Jones despite anything he does. Perhaps that was part of his thinking. Hey, I'm fucked anyway so why not?

Well, no matter what the motives of Doug Jones and Mitt Romney at least we can say the vote to remove the President was bipartisan while the vote to acquit wasn't.

It isn't much, but at least it's a step in the right direction. And these days, given who is in charge, that's about as much as we can hope for.



2-11-20