James Lankford Wanted to Get Something Done, Donald Trump Didn't, and Dusty Deevers Tells Us Where He Wants to go Next

 James Paul Lankford is the senior United States Senator from Oklahoma. He is also an ordained Southern Baptist minister who, prior to his political career ran the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center, in the south central part of the state. He served two terms in the House of Representatives before running for the senate. He has run for the seat three times. He won with 67.9%, then 68%, and finally with 64% of the ballots cast. 

Lankford opposes abortion and gay rights, He received an, "A,' rating from the NRA and is against the legalization of cannabis for both medical and recreational use. His stated belief is that federally funded health insurance is unconstitutional and has voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He also feels regulating carbon emissions is bad for the economy and thinks there should be an expansion of oil and natural gas exploration and production worldwide.  

All of this is being said only to prove to one and all, Senator James P. Lankford is one conservative son of a bitch. 

Ah, but apparently he isn't conservative enough for Oklahoma MAGAs. On Saturday, newly minted state senator and keeper of the faith, Dusty Deevers announced over social media the Oklahoma republican party is censuring Lankford for, "playing fast and loose with democrats on our border policy." The statement also called on Lankford, "to cease and desist jeopardizing the security and liberty," of Americans."

Over the last year Lankford has been the lead GOP negotiator as the U.S. Senate has tried to come up with a bill on southern border security both sides can live with. Tied to the bill is money for both Ukraine and Israel. Lankford, democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut, and independent, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona came up with a proposal a lot of liberals have objected to, but joe Biden said he would sign. Initially the deal was well received in the upper chamber, although passage in the house was still problematical. 

Then Donald Trump got on the phone and the whole republican world jumped immediately after asking Orange Jesus how high. Lankford initially tried to explain his reasoning by saying it was the best possible deal conservatives could get. He went on to say he had taken an oath to defend and protect the constitution, not just the republican party, or special interest groups. Finally, he pointed out it is pretty darn tough to get something done in the Senate if you don't negotiate with democrats since they are--you know--in the majority there.

And that was Jimmy Lankford's mistake. He tried to get something done. 

Silly boy. The entire existence of the MAGA wing of the republican party is based on complaining about anything and everything. If you get things done you can't do that. Besides Donald Trump, their lord and savior, needs chaos at the border so he can blame Joe Biden and democrats for it. If you ease, or heaven forbid solve the nightmare on the Rio Grande you have robbed Trump and others of a campaign issue that everyone acknowledges is genuine. That Trump and his MAGAs don' have plan, other than to build a wall, or open fire matters not. He and he alone must get the credit for curing the immigration issue after Biden is gone. 

Not to mention killing this border bill right now has the added benefit of making sure Ukrainian troops will be reduced to throwing rocks at Russian tanks within a few months--a topic which doesn't sell nearly as well as The Great Replacement Conspiracy.

Well, we've learned two things from this censure of James Lankford. On the national level, Donald J Trump still calls the shots in the GOP, no matter how insanely nihilistic those shots are, And, here in Oklahoma, all of us just found out exactly where freshman state senator, Dusty Deevers wants to go next. 

sic vita est

1-31-24