I know I often talk about the dysfunction on Capitol Hill. It certainly is at an all-time high, even higher than during the past administration. It seems like the Democrats are functionally fine; at least they are all on the same misguided page. The one thing that certainly hasn’t changed is how the dysfunction in Washington is coming out of the Republican Party.
To me, Wednesday’s White House press briefing was refreshing. Stephen Miller, who is President Trump’s senior policy advisor, gave a briefing about the new immigration policy. As always, the news media tried to turn this into something that it wasn’t.
Miller used this opportunity to put the news media in its place and remind them of the facts, despite the hypocritical, ill-informed media’s posturing that continued to attempt to frame the briefing.
Right or wrong, I took this as a pretty positive step for the White House. My initial reaction was to ask, “Could it be that the White House is actually defending its actions and making a decision to prevent the mainstream media from continuing to shape the narrative?”
Apparently, many in the conservative media (with the exception of Sean Hannity) thought that this confrontation from Miller was unnecessary. Immediately, I thought of how this reminded me of the royal elite Republican members of Congress, who continually want to just speak softly and shrink from their own shadow.
They don’t stand up for the reality of what is right for the American people, never want to confront anyone, and never want to go on offense. I find this disturbing, but more importantly, very surprising. I think this is exactly what needs to happen. The mainstream media has to face consequences, even if it’s only rebukes in a public forum, for the ill-informed, unsubstantiated interpretations they continue to spew forth.
It’s about time someone in the Republican Party takes responsibility for defending America and standing up for what is right for the American people. The last thing we need is the conservative media (many with big megaphones) to buy into the nonconfrontational, soft-willed elite attitude of allowing progressives to continue to frame the debate the way they see fit. And then, for Republicans to stand back and go on defense.
The worst part about it is when they whine and moan about how they’re being treated unfairly. The fact of the matter is we live in a time—whether any of the royal elites of conservative media or the Republican Party want to believe it or not—when people are aching for conservatives to go on offense. I’m sick and tired of the defensive posture that everybody seems to take while defending themselves against the likes of CNN and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
My hope is that the White House and the staff are beginning to take an attitude of going on offense, like Sarah Huckabee Sanders did last week when she laid out some of the things that should be considered regarding alleged Russian collusion.
Given the White House’s stance, it’s also time that a do-nothing, vacationing, resting-up-for-lengthy-conversations Congress do the same as they consider the issues they must tackle. What will it take to motivate the so-called GOP leadership to go on offense and support the president’s agenda?
It’s time for the milquetoast attitude of Republicans on Capitol Hill to fade. Maybe they should get serious, and stop trying to pretend like they’re standing up for what is right. It’s time for the American people and other pundits to realize, as we have continually been made aware, that the Republican Party can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.
Why would anyone believe that they can do that when they’ve never been able to juggle more than one ball at a time for the last 10 years? It’s time to step up and do the hard work of passing serious legislation. Do they think that by saying they can walk and chew gum at the same time that they actually will? Or, that they will find the courage to do it? That’s unlikely.
November 2018 is likely to be the time that we find real “repeal and replace” action. Fortunately for America, I’m not talking about Obamacare. I’m referring to the do-nothing Republicans in Congress.