READING TIME: 5 minutes
SUMMARY: Congressional Republicans are systematically dismantling American democratic oversight by equating press conferences with sworn Congressional testimony, enabling Trump’s unchecked executive tyranny. From AG Bondi’s farcical House briefing to Republican leadership’s creative excuses for avoiding war crimes accountability, the GOP has embraced accountability kabuki theater over constitutional responsibility. Meanwhile, America teeters on financial insolvency — $47 trillion in debt, a billion dollar daily war tab, and a rumored $200 billion supplemental Pentagon request. Hannah Arendt’s banality of evil operates at every level — congressional, administrative, and electoral. Our 250 year democratic experiment is unraveling in real time. This is the second post in the series. In part one, we looked at the role of the feckless Republican Congress and Trump’s narrative dominance.
KEY WORDS: #GOPDystopia Kabuki accountability theater Congressional oversight Banality of evil Sworn testimony Netanyahu-Trump War Crimes Greater Depression Executive dysfunction Checks and balances Republic
COMMENT: How likely is it that the electorate will come through for us in November and elect a Democratic Congress, and we can stave off election mishegas to seat the new Congress?
The Trump Regime Cosplaying the Three Stooges
The House “Briefing”
Last week, Democrats stormed out of a briefing with AG Pam Bondi madder than the hornets whose nest I tried to knock down when I was fourteen. The House Oversight Committee had issued a subpoena the day before the hearing for 14 April. There were multiple irritations in the briefing, starting with it wasn’t a briefing, but a faux hearing sans the swearing in part. You know, the part that makes it a crime to lie. That part. Then, Bondi refused to pinky promise that she would show up on the fourteenth for the hearing, instead she offered the plenty of wiggle-room response, “I will comply with the law.” We’ve seen how compliant the Trump regime is with the law and how much respect they have for the role of Congress. Once Comer had described Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pennsylvania) as “bitching,” a clear breach of House etiquette, the Democrats had had enough with the clown show.
“Disorder in the Court”
But, here’s the kicker, later in the day, a DoJ spokesperson claimed that a subpoena wasn’t necessary since the AG called and met with members of Congress to keep them up to date on the Epstein Files. Um, excuse me but without the risk of perjury, the whole exercise becomes little more than the Three Stooges in “Disorder in the Court” only not as funny.
The Hollow State
Political Accountability Kabuki Theater
Unfortunately, the Republican Party seems to be colluding to put on some form of political accountability kabuki theater rather than real oversight. No where are the Republicans as clear about their attempts to obfuscate the difference between sworn testimony and casual extemporaneous remarks than when it comes to oversight of the Netanyahu-Trump War Crimes Parade, taking place in Iran and the Mid-East right now.
As the won war (crimes) stretches into its fourth week, Democrats have had it up to here with Republican attempts to dodge accountability. While Democrats push for public Congressional hearings as confusion over what is actually happening in the “war” deepens (Spoiler: There are no negotiations with Iran. There is no possibility of a negotiated end to hostilities), Congressional Republicans continue to hem and haw, puff out their chests, and scuff their feet on the ground. They offer some weak excuses for why hearings are not needed:
- House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Mighty Johnson): Public hearings might compromise the Iran war crimes. What? Does Johnson not trust Pistol Pete Hegseth not to blab top secret attack plans like the hearing is a common Signal chat? That was so 2025 and four bombings ago, Mike! Pete’s gotten so much better since then.
- Sister Lindsey Graham (R-Closet): Thinks that Congress should get around to holding public hearings… eventually. Because what’s the point of committing war crimes if you can’t brag about it?
- Senator Mike Who? Rounds (R-Back Bench): Says public hearings are fine and all, but he still wants his “classifieds.” No one has told him that the Backpage is no longer a thing.
- Majority Leader John Thune (R-Central Casting): Says the quiet part out loud, hearings aren’t necessary because administration officials have been holding “plenty of news conferences.”
Press Conference, Sworn Testimony, What’s the Difference?
And there you have it everybody! There it is. Equating news conferences with sworn testimony. We don’t need no stinking Congressional hearings with their pushy subpoenas and aggressive lawyerly questioning when we have news conferences where the belief seems to be the Lewandowski-esque there’s “no obligation to be honest with the media.”
Here’s what gets lost in the procedural shuffle. Sworn Congressional testimony carries legal jeopardy for lying. Press conferences don’t. Subpoenas compel answers. Microphones don’t. Official testimony creates a legal record. Press conferences create a soundbite. One is a constitutional mechanism. The other is a photo op. When you substitute one for the other you aren’t just changing the venue — you’re dismantling the checks and balances architecture the Founders created to prevent exactly the kind of tyrannical overreach and corruption we’re watching unfold in real time right in front of us. But sure. Let’s stick with news conferences. What could go wrong?
Banality of Evil Meet A Republic If You Can Keep It, Republican Congress Style
If we accept that press conferences are the equivalent of oversight hearings, it means that the banality of evil wins. The Republican excuse of “I’m just a lowly party apparatchik, what can I do but listen to the press conference and accept the lies as truth.” wins. We will have completely lost the thread of what it means to be a democracy and hold our elected leaders to account. By allowing ourselves to be hoodwinked into believing all politicians, branches of government, and institutions are equally corrupt, we’ve accepted the nihilistic message of Trump and the Republican Party. All is lost; abandon all hope; there is nothing honest people can do against such depraved evil. Trump’s narrative becomes our reality. And our republic is lost.
The Coming Crash
One of the things that could go wrong is that this reckless spending on the Netanyahu-Trump War Crime Spree could bankrupt the country. Flying under the media radar was a report that analyzed the US Treasury’s financial reports for 2025 found that our debt was about eight times our assets ($47.78 TRILLION in debt versus $6.06 TRILLION in assets). With a debt to asset ratio so great, independent economists assure us that we are insolvent. Luckily, that doesn’t mean we are bankrupt.
Insolvency
Bankruptcy means you cannot meet your debt obligations, meaning you are having a cash flow problem. Insolvency means that you still can make your minimum payments, but you’re drowning in your debt. Luckily, we can still borrow, and we can still print money. Of course, printing money fuels inflation, but you have enough dollars to make your payments even if they are worth less , but not quite worthless, for everyone.
The Netanyahu-Trump War Crime is costing us a billion dollars per day — and that is just in direct costs, no one s talking about indirect costs. The Pentagon is rumored to be putting together a $200 billion supplemental budget request to make sure we stock up our ammunition. You know how hyper-masculine manly men like the Rootin’ Tootin’ Pete Hegseth like to be prepared, you know like stock piling oil BEFORE you attack the country that can deny you the type of oil you need and having plans in place to get citizens out of harm’s way BEFORE the bombs start to fall. War fighters that are unbound by silly rules of engagement are ready for all contingencies. Poor guy is probably not sleeping at night worrying about how were going to cope with having depleted our endless, infinite really, supply of munitions.
A Trillion Here, A Trillion There, Soon You’re Talking About Funny Money
While Congressional Democrats are running around the capitol bawking at the top of their lungs and flapping their wings like they’re being chased by a fox over the war crimes that Trump is committing, the Republicans seem fine with it all. In fact, when it was rumored that $200 billion MORE dollars would be needed, the usually fiscally conservative deficit hawks haven’t made a peep about the country being insolvent and seem poised to borrow as much money as Trump wants to spend. It’s like Fred Trump never died.
The country, however, doesn’t seem as alarmed as it could be or should be. One reason is that we’ve habituated to large numbers without really understanding what they mean. Let’s make a quick comparison of millions, billions, and trillions:
- A million seconds is about 11 days
- A billion seconds is about 32 years
- A trillion seconds is about 32,000 YEARS
Um, yikes. That 200 billion seems a bit scarier and that 48 trillion in debt seems much scarier. Trump is spending money like Fred is still alive — wait, I’ve made that joke already — but you know what I mean. Reagan’s plan was to drive the debt so high we’d have to get rid of our social safety net programs like SNAP and Medicaid because poor children would figure it out if we’d just let them be cold, hungry, and sick for a few days instead of keeping them dependent on the government teet, garshdarnit. Ain’t that right, Trump. You straightened up and flew right once you blew through Fred’s money after he died, right? It’s not like you ever… declared… bank…. Never mind. Trump did declare himself king of bankruptcy in the 2016 campaign and said paying taxes was for losers. We thought it was so cute back then.
We all know that Trump cannot manage his impulses and urges, so if he wants to spend billions of US tax-payer dollars on something or other that he wanted for a moment or two, he will. And, of course, we have to give millions to billionaires, so there is only money from the middle class coming in. We couldn’t possibly tax them fairly; what if they all moved to another country? Who would we NOT tax then? Hmmm? Under these circumstances, we really do need a Congress that will check and balance Trump, but we have the feckless Republican Congress who is willing to just let Trump and his administration do whatever they want.
Banality of Evil Meet A Republic If You Can Keep It, Electorate Style
The banality of evil is to know how bad our financial situation is, and to continue to allow the usual spenders to continue their out-of-control spending and give away ways all in order to further your career, beliefs, identity? Why are we letting Republicans do this to us again when we can all vote? It’s like we know it’s bad, but we keep voting for these democracy-busting people anyway? Because we can’t quite bring ourselves to hold the guy who led an insurrection the last time he lost an election and the party that enabled him accountable.
The banality of evil at the electorate-level meets a republic if we can keep it, when we watching our 250 year old democracy unravel right before our eyes. and proclaim impotently, “I didn’t vote for that.” Are we It really going to lose our democracy because we can’t be bothered to keep it?
Gawd, I really hope I’m wrong. I really hope that No Kings on Saturday 28 March is an overwhelming number of people and that there is groundswell of throw the bums out as the midterms approach. I’m afraid that Trump will create such a chaotic mess that there is no easy solution for it.
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That is the key….involvement. Sadly many think they are too busy for such nonsense while others embrace defeatism….I feel that we will lose our democracy completely because we cannot be bothered. chuq
I’ve not seen any officially reported numbers, but the day seemed successful. The numbers in deep red area should be getting the attention of Congressional Republicans.
Jack
Jack the rough estimate is 8 million…..chuq
Howdy Chuq!
Is it only me who is a little disappointed that it is only a million more than the October 2025 protests?
Seems like it should’ve been much more than that.
Huzzah!
Jack
Me as well….we can do better. chuq
It’s as if about half of the seats in the House and Senate have been equipped with slot machines for the entertainment of gambling addicts with unlimited credit.
What could go wrong with that?
When you know somebody is lying, and you are lying too, asking them to tell the truth, or even to know what it is, does look like kind of a waste of time. Besides, if the witness lies under oath and you know it, but you have no intention of calling them out on it, let alone prosecuting, why bother. And, “Why bother?” seems to be the dominant attitude.
Two towns here have cleverly scheduled their NO KINGS rallies one in the morning and the other in the afternoon so that some of us can be at both.
That is clever, Bob. How was your No Kings Day?
Why bother is the Zeitgeist of the age, I’m afraid. It plays right into the authoritarian’s hands . However, given the explosive response that We’ve seen from Pam Bondi and others when confronted with their lies — “Won’t call me a liar!” — it is worthwhile to continue do so and to not mince words. Reporters should be asking “What evidence is there that that is true?”
The Republican Congress could be dubbed the “Why Bother” Congress.
Blog On, Sibling!
Jack
The current Congress, at least on one side of the isle, is also the Post Truth, Post Facts Congress. They aren’t just gaslighting. They are thoroughly gaslit and have no real clue which way is up.
Howdy Bob!
It is unclear to me just how much the general average Republican Congress person actually believes. The only thing I am confident of is that they have given up on the American democratic experiment and prefer autocracy. That much is clear.
They are nervous that they won’t be able to rig the mid-terms to guarantee their reelection. That’s the whole reason the House Freedom Caucus scuttled the DHS deal. Without the SAVE Act, they don’t think they can win. I think that’s the sum total of their beliefs, other than white nationalists and dyed in the wool racists and misogynists.
Huzzah!
Jack
Some of the smarter of them have noticed that the SAVE Act is as likely to hurt them and it is the Democrats. In a way, that really is the point of the damned thing, to disenfranchise as many voters as possible and undermine the whole idea of elections, getting more potential voters into the “Why bother” position, especially swing voters.
Howdy Bob!
Trump has shown he has an uncanny ability to expand the electorate to disenfranchised white Americans, but only when he’s running. There are signs that he repels voters — depressing MAGA turn out and increasing the anti-Trump turnout — in off year elections. Republicans seem to think that they can depress Democratic voters more than they depress their own. That’s a huge gamble.One likely born of their own racism and misogyny. Apparently, they learned nothing from the off year elections in Georgia where they tried hard to depress Black voter turn out and ended up with two Democratic senators, one re elected and the other standing a good chance of being reelected. They were also denigrating Boomers at the No Kings, which is their main voting block, as they threaten to bankrupt and thereby privatize Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Postal Service. Trump is in the hubristic overreach stage of authoritarianism, which usually takes years to reach. I guess many Congressional Republicans realize that, at least instinctively, and feel stuck. Implosion is our best hope.
Huzzah!
Jack
Trump, in a bad mood, insults everybody, and seeks to punish everybody, To whatever degree the election goes against the GOP, he will blame his most loyal followers for not showing up, just as he is blaming our oldest and best allies for not opening the Straight of Hormuz.
He has done the entire authoritarian strong man dictator playbook faster than any of the guys he admires. He is pathologically impatient. Right now, he dearly wants the Iran war to be over. He was ready to declare victory on Day One. There’s a bus speeding down the street, and I think its a tossup who it hits first, Pam or Pete.
Howdy Bob!
I guess it was Bondi. He needed a distraction from the Iran War Crime fiasco.I Don’t know what the pundits are wondering about the “timing.” Trump’s motives are easy: narcissistic wound, grifting money, or distracting from something he doesn’t like or blaming someone else for his errors. All of them are narcissistic personality based.
We’ll need to punish someone for his Iran debacle. Looks like NATO — excuse to withdraw? — and the EU allies. An election loss in November will get the same treatment as his loss in 2020, complete abandonment of the base and the party with policies that hurt them horribly.
It is troubling that Hegseth has fired the Army Chief of Staff and several high ranking military officer. I can only assume that they are getting pushback on the legality of some of their orders. I can’t believe that any military officer would accept the order to destroy civilian infrastructure, but then again, I don’t think there was a sailor that would attack or refuse to rescue survivors of an attack, especially anyone in the water. There is no one more helpless than people struggling to keep their heads above the waves in the open ocean. It is one of the most inhumane acts in the world to have double–tapped those poor men on the wreckage of their boat in the Caribbean or leave the Iranians to drown in the Indian Ocean. Those were the most clear cut times to stand up and say no we Don’t follow illegal orders. Those were so clearly illegal even if the JAG officers and everyone above you in the chain of command said they were legal. They are clearly looking for people who will commit clear war crimes.
Huzzah!
Jack
For these narcissists, sociopaths, and psychopaths, it’s only a crime if somebody else does it. And when they, like would be Crusader, alcoholic, boy playing with toy soldiers in a video game, Hegseth, see it all as a cross between reality TV and Call Of Duty, it’s just a show and the dead people aren’t really real, and don’t matter anyway. But, the way is not going any better than the prosecutions of Trump’s enemies or the Epstein files were, and somebody has to go under the bus soon. Trump can tell the war to stop, but it may not obey.
Howdy Bob!
I’m pretty sure that Trump is just going to declare victory and leave the mess behind. But,with the troops moving into the area, you gotta wonder if he’s actually going to be stupid enough to try and take and hold parts of Iran. But, if Trump would just shut up and get out of the way, Europe would probably be able to get the Strait open without another shot being fired.
Huzzah!
Jack
Trump, at this stage of his deterioration could declare victory one day, and change his mind the next. It would, after all be an opportunity to make a huge bundle on the stock market.
All the Europeans and some others would need to do is agree to let Iran ban certain ship (US flag or destination?) from the straight, Some vessels are already being allowed through, some paying a toll, and some as friends. But it would hinge on the US really stopping the bombing. Of course. it would help if they and others would/could really reign in Mad Dog Bebe.
Howdy Bob!
The Gaza genocide and West Bank atrocities are so bad that it won’t be long that opposing Israeli belligerence will be a political advantage in European countries. Netanyahu already cannot travel freely because of war crimes charges, can sanctions be far behind? Arms embargoes and sanctions for anyone who does trade in arms with them or gives Netanyahu sanctuary. It might hasten the demise of NATO, but it probably good for Europe and the world for Europe to be more independent and self-sufficient anyway. Making a deal for European ships and other allied nations excluding Israel and the US sounds like a reasonable deal to me.
Huzzah!
Jack
I’m not expecting the demise of NATO if the US pulls out (and , I think there’s a process for that over a year or more). The Europeans, UK, Iceland, and Canada will try to keep it going, possibly inviting others (Australia, New Zealand), because they are having to deal with a rogue US as well as Russia.
That does sound like a necessary deal.
Howdy Bob!
It could be a case of being careful of what you wish for, as in Putin should not be so sure that having an unstable US s good for him because it could just mean a more united and assertive Europe and ex colonies. Of course, it hurts the US, but not necessarily the rest of the world.
Huzzah!
Jack