Here's a Good Look at the Future of Congress
The GOP is fine with these morons taking office because they know it will distract the Democrats for years.
The orientation for newly elected members of Congress has begun. Previously, it gave us a blossoming friendship between progressive representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley. This year it has given us this (from CBS News):
Congresswoman-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has drawn criticism for her support of the QAnon conspiracy theory, said Friday that "masks are oppressive" during orientation for incoming representatives. Greene's comments come as over 240,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus, with the U.S. breaking another record for daily cases on Thursday.
"Our first session of New Member Orientation covered COVID in Congress. Masks, masks, masks....I proudly told my freshman class that masks are oppressive. In GA, we work out, shop, go to restaurants, go to work, and school without masks. My body, my choice. #FreeYourFace," Greene, who was elected to a district in northwest Georgia last week, wrote on Twitter.
Oh man. This lady is going to be... a lot. It's easy to look at Marjorie Taylor Greene, the openly QAnon-supporting congresswoman-elect from Georgia, as an aberration that may go away in the 2022 midterms. Unfortunately for all of us, I think that's a fantasy. Taylor Greene and her ilk are here to stay. Look at another member of Congress' freshman class:
This is the future of the GOP. These people will make Dan Crenshaw look like John McCain (a comparison I'm sure he'd love). There's already signs that even Crenshaw is vaguely uncomfortable with morons like this joining him in the House.
Meanwhile, in the Senate:
These people are morons, but that in itself is beside the point. The GOP is fine with these people taking office because they know it will distract the Democrats into two or four or six years of dealing with them, and doing takes like "look at this moron! The GOP is so uncouth!" This take is true. But it also doesn't do anything to address the core problems that created a situation where hundreds of thousands of Americans voted for morons because they thought said morons would be able to improve their lives. People vote for candidates that they think represent their interests. The response to Cawthorn and Taylor Greene and Tuberville isn't just to ridicule them. It's to give the people who put them in power more compelling ideas to vote for, and candidates who represent those things. The deep red districts and states these people come from care about god and guns and all the old rhetoric. But they also care about feeding their families, keeping their jobs, and going to the doctor. If the Democrats don't find a way to get a compelling message across to these people, the ranks of morons in office will continue to grow. They've already had the White House once. It's only a matter of time until one of them takes it again.
