The Disingenuousness of Never Trumpers and the YOLO Caucus — Grifting off of the Anti-Trump Vibe same as the Pro-Trumpers

What the Reconciliation Bill Reveals about Senate Republicans

We were recently treated to the so-called vote-o-rama, the whack-a-mole of legislative processes, as the Senate took up the Republican reconciliation bill that had funding for DHS, CBP, and ICE as well as for the ballroom and insurrectionist let’s all be Brown shirts together slush fund. Senators on both sides of the isle shenaned and then shenaned again with it, but none more than the comical stylings of YOLO Caucus member Senator Dr. Bill Cassidy (R-Milquetoast).

As I read about all the voting on all the measures that various senators were trying to shoehorn into the reconciliation bill, it occurred to me that the Senators Trump kicked to the curb doth protest too much, and it got me to wondering why. I also started thinking about t all of the Never Trumpers Republicans making bank off of liberal and progressive media — I’m looking at you MSNOW — and remembering a segment featuring Rick Wilson in which he declared that he could make such an ad using the material that Republicans had given on some issue like Iran or murdering toddlers or whatever the outrage du jour was that day. The cold tight sound of his voice told me that he would happily Max Cleland someone if someone anyone would just pay him to do it.

The Safe Trump Opposition Votes

Any who. I handful of Senators spent their vote-o-rama fair tickets voting for issues that are safe to oppose Trump on because they would never pass, yet they could use them to bolster their street cred as being independent of Trump. Let’s just do a quick review of some of the choicer moments in the kabuki theater performance:

Bill Cassidy switched his no vote to yes after the amendment to block funding for the Epstein Honorary Ballroom and Sleep Over Space had failed. I guess the brave brave Cassidy hadn’t quite gotten the vote count right, couldn’t risk voting against funding the WH sleep overs until he saw it failed. What a profile in courage for the modern age.

Cassidy spent the entire day trying to write an amendment that would strip funding for the 6 January Insurrectionist slush fund with a bare majority — now isn’t that an image? — yet allow the extended funding for ICE to go through. He failed. Just another legislative failure to heap onto the Cassidy legacy right up there with the RFK, Jr.approval vote.

Democrats used the cosplay of bipartisanship to put forward a slew of amendments like blocking Bill “Show me a person, I’ll show you a crime” Pulte’s appointment to DNI, increasing home construction, inspecting the very troubled Delaney torture center, and to prevent Tina Peters from further cashing in on taking a leak on voter data. The only Republicans consistently voting for them weren’t even the YOLO Caucus, they were the tough re-election senators, Susan Collins, R-Pearl Clutching; Jon Husted, R-Not JD Vance; and Dan Sullivan, R-Wishing for the Balls of Lisa Murkowski.

Senate Republicans Still Vote with Trump

YOLO Caucus members Cassidy, Tillis, and McCarthy voted for some measures, but against most of them. In the end only Lisa Murkowski (R-WhyAm I STILL a Republican) was the only R vote against the reconciliation package. When asked why he voted for the package, Cassidy mumbled something about how racism is more important to him than whatever the other thing was.

In the end the dishonest and bad faith Republicans in the Senate got the best of both worlds. They got to supersize the DHS, CPB, and ICE funding through the end of Trump’s term, guaranteeing that its funding is safe from any effort to tie future funding to reforms and take turns cosplaying independence from Trump.

The Anti-Trump Wing of the Republican Party Grift by any other Name

Here’s my point, there are all these Republicans both in and out of office and working for the party and outside of it who are at odds with Trump. Everyone from Michael Steele and Rick Wilson who no longer work in Republican politics to Adam Kinzinger and Liz Chaney who no longer can be elected to office to Joni Earnest and Mitch McConnell who are not running again for reasons of their own to Dr. Bill Cassidy and Thomas Massie who were primaried for not loving Trump right. I don’t have an accurate count — please give one or a link if you’ve got it — but there’s a fair number of them.

They all do various things to oppose Trump, but none of them very effectively, with the exception of Thomas Massie who has made it his mission while in Congress to be a thorn in Trump’s side. Otherwise, the closest you get are the media whores like the Lincoln Project and the Bulwark who are making ads and going on the pundit cable shows and podcasts. What’d Liz Chaney and Adam Kinzinger up to? I haven’t heard from either of them. I know Chaney did some campaigning-related stuff in 2024, but that’s about it. And the folks still in Congress support Trump over 90% of the time. If Murkowski is serious, why isn’t she an independent? Why isn’t Massie?

It seems to me that these folks are all pretty much just grifting off the anti-Trump vibe, hoping to still be viable once Trump dies. They aren’t reformed. They were all there laying the groundwork for Frankenstein’s monster, and once the Orange Oaf blundered into town knocking down the buildings, raping the fathers, and grabbing the mothers by their pussies, they all said, “Yuck! I want to work after this septuagenarian kicks the bucket, what can I do in the meantime to make a buck?” and started to cover their own asses in various ways.

We Need A New Conservative Party

If these folks were really Never Trumpers and really thought conservative values were important, they would be starting a conservative party. Kinda like the Republicans did in the 1850’s when they realized abolition was the main issue and the Whigs were failing to be an effective counterpoint to the Southern Democratic slaver oligarchs.

Sure, it is hard work. Sure, it will split the conservative vote and hand elections to the Democrats. Sure, it might not supplant the Republican Party. Sure, it is a risk and a gamble. Sure, you probably wouldn’t make as much money as you are now grifting off of the anti-Trump vibe. But, you would actually be standing up for political beliefs and strengthening our democracy.

As I pointed out in last week’s post, single-party rule is wrecking both Texas and California. It’s not doing Florida or Louisiana any favors either. Kansas barely survived Sam Brownback’s Republican paradise. We need two viable political parties at a minimum. While the Democrats have their problems, there are people fighting to make it more effective. As far as I can tell, the only people in the Republican Party are those making bank off of the Trump grift either by corrupting right along side Trump or working the anti-Trump sentiment. Both are hoping to be viable Republicans after Trump’s inevitable demise. None of them actually care about American democracy, good governance, or being good-faith governing partners with Democrats.

Image Attribution

This image was found on Picryl and has a Creative Commons license.