Change Already in the Air

Have you heard anything this week about the Senate adjourning so that Trump can use recess appointments to stock his cabinet with what Frank Bruni aptly called an Embarrassment of Wretches? All of a sudden there’s radio silence on that topic. It could pick up as we approach the seating of the new Congress, but I’d bet that it’s truly yesterday’s news.

Certainly, the parade of charlatans, fools and total incompetents that Trump has paraded as the leaders of the incoming maladministration has had a lot to do with the change. It’s a lot easier for Republicans to stand up to Trump over Matt Gaetz and Pete “Stick a Fork in Him” Hegseth than it would be over someone like Marco Rubio, who’s merely of little merit for his proposed position. The thing is, though, that standing up and showing a little backbone can be habit-forming. If Senator Claghorn can tell Trump (on the QT) that he won’t vote for a Gaetz or Hegseth, it will be just a bit easier to show some independence on other matters. I don’t mean that a bunch of clowns, loudmouths and tricksters won’t be confirmed by the new Senate. Some surely will be, which means that Democrats and other sane folks need to pick their targets. For me, the ones we should concentrate on are RFK, Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel as the most dangerous. We may well be stuck with Ron DeSantis as SecDef, and Kristi “Puppy Slayer” Noem at DHS, but we’ll still have dodged a few bullets.

The thing is, though, that although the punditocracy has not noticed, the ground has already shifted. In ten days Trump has started to look a lot more vulnerable. He has started, visibly, down the road of the lame duck. He still has a great deal of power (aided and abetted by the Extreme Court), but the power is ebbing, slowly but surely. Now, we need to do what we can to speed the process.

-30-*

* “-30-” was the traditional end to a wire-service story in the days of teleprinters. Lowell Thomas used to say, “That’s 30 for this edition” at the close of his broadcasts.