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In 1994, the Republican Party announced a "Contract with America" which was not only a list of promises but a "blueprint for governing," wrote Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty.
In 2006, when Democrats were about to take over the House they announced their own list of promises, which was a list of 10 laws they promised to pass if enough were elected to take over the House.
This year, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced his own list, complete with a video showing families that were actually from Russia and Ukraine. But his list is more of a list of MAGA conspiracies and promises that the GOP can never keep. McCarthy, for example, announced that any parent who was on the terrorist watch list for threatening a member of a school board would be removed. McCarthy and Congress has no control over the terrorist watch list.
"The Pittsburgh-area event was a telling indication of the difficulties that lie ahead for McCarthy if he is given the gavel he has so long coveted — and, with it, the responsibility to actually govern at the head of a fractious, fragile majority in which the most extreme members are determined to call the shots," explained Tumulty. "The hard-right Freedom Caucus has indicated that its support for McCarthy will hinge on rules changes that would curb the speaker’s power and make it easier to oust him."
Tumulty called McCarthy's list of promises nothing more than a bunch of slogans like “curb wasteful government spending” and “fight inflation and lower the cost of living.” They also pledged to “defend fairness by ensuring that only women can compete in women’s sports." They have no real hope of achieving any of the promises, but the everyday voter doesn't fully understand.
McCarthy's top priority, he said would, on its “very first day,” “repeal 87,000 IRS agents,” which is a conspiracy theory about a bill that hired more staff able to go after millionaires and billionaires who refuse to pay their taxes. The IRS has been in desperate need of funding for decades and as a result, many wealthy taxpayers have gotten away with dodging their part of the economy.
McCarthy went on to address abortion, saying they'd “protect the lives of unborn children and their mothers," but didn't clarify how.
It's just a few of the GOP examples, including the impeachment of Biden and various investigations.
"McCarthy, for all his challenges, knows there is at least one situation in which House Republicans will stand together, and that is when they are on the attack," said Tumulty. "It’s a 'Commitment' they can be counted on to keep."
Read the full column in the Washington Post.
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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke to the Texas Tribune Festival about the crisis of asylum seekers coming in from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Speaking to the group in Austin, Texas over the weekend, he explained that the reason that Republicans want to talk so much about problems at the border is that they gain more by there not being a solution than if there was one.
“It’s one thing to call attention to the problem… It’s another thing to just call attention to the problem because the problem is actually more useful to you than the solution, and that helps call attention to yourself," said Buttigieg.
It has been a consistent concept for Republicans who are excellent at naming and attacking the problems but not having solutions to fix it. It infamously happened after Donald Trump took office in 2017 when Republicans held the House and Senate. There was an effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. After years of pledging to repeal and replace Obamacare they were prepared for the repeal part but were never able to craft a replacement.
The same is now true for immigration, according to Buttigieg. Republicans benefit more from the problem than from a solution.
See the video below:
\u201cOn DeSantis and border hysteria: \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to call attention to the problem\u2026 It\u2019s another thing to just call attention to the problem because the problem is actually more useful to you than the solution, and that helps call attention to yourself.\u201d\u201d— Tim Steller (@Tim Steller) 1664157618
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Ron DeSantis is furious Greg Abbott stole his idea — Abbott is raging DeSantis kidnapped the immigrants he wanted to deport
September 25, 2022
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis whined at a GOP event last year that his fellow governor, Greg Abbott (R-TX) has it easy looking good to voters because he has a 1,254-mile border with Mexico that he can blame for all of his problems.
In a New York Times report about the two governors, DeSantis and Abbott, means that the Texas governor "stole the show," from a threat that DeSantis had made earlier this year that he would bus immigrants from Florida to President Joe Biden's home in Deleware.
Once DeSantis made the threat, progressives began questioning how that could impact DeSantis with the conservative Cuban and Venezuelan communities, who would normally vote Republican. But with those groups fleeing to the United States fearing Communism and Socialism and Republicans trying to deport them, it could cause political problems.
DeSantis runs the risk of losing the votes of those communities if he starts deporting their family members. So, DeSantis used another method, he simply kidnapped asylum seekers from Texas, lied to them, and shipped them off.
The Wall Street Journal reported that according to the Border Patrol data, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are the countries of origin of the majority of border crossers. Deporting those immigrants seeking asylum isn't the best campaign message for DeSantis. At the same time, it's hacking off Republicans in Texas.
"But Mr. DeSantis’s stunt also annoyed an entirely different group — fellow Republicans in Austin, including some of the allies and aides of Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas," the Times reported. "Publicly, Mr. Abbott has not criticized Mr. DeSantis’s migrant flights from his state. 'Every state that wants to help, I’m happy for it,' said Dave Carney, Mr. Abbott’s top campaign strategist."
Behind closed doors, however, Abbott was not happy. No one gave a heads up to anyone where DeSantis took the immigrants so that they could have food and services waiting to help them. DeSantis also didn't tell Abbott he was coming into Texas and kidnapping his immigrants.
"Mr. Abbott had spent months — and millions of state tax dollars — methodically orchestrating a relocation program that, since April, had bused 11,000 migrants to Washington, New York and Chicago," the Times said. "Mr. DeSantis’s adaptation was considerably smaller."
He ultimately got more attention, however, because he flew them on a fancy private plane to Martha's Vinyard. No one knew they were coming and churches and groups were forced to mobilize quickly to help the people when they arrived. Since the island is seasonal, they've since been sent to the mainland, about 25 miles north, where there are more people to offer them housing and services.
"It immediately put the national spotlight on Mr. DeSantis, garnering headlines and earning him praise from Republicans and condemnation from Democrats," the Times noted. "It also led to an investigation by the sheriff in San Antonio and a lawsuit from migrants who said they had been lured onto the planes under false pretenses. Mr. DeSantis grabbed the attention of right-wing America, using Mr. Abbott’s tactic, on Mr. Abbott’s turf, to bigger and more dramatic effect."
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