A drunk behind the wheel of a clown car speeding down the highway: This is how a New York Times’ conservative columnist Monday described Republicans in the House of Representatives.
Bret Stephens made this analogy as he and fellow columnist Gail Collins discussed aid to Ukraine, the potential impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and a bipartisan Senate bill to tighten the nation’s southern border.
“I can’t quite believe I’m saying this, but I have a rooting interest in Republicans losing their majority,” Stephens told Collins. “So-called sane House Republicans are basically passengers in a car being driven at high speed by a drunk.”
Stephens condemned Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) “and his fellow clowns” who have actively fought against sending aid to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion devastated the nation and fueled economic insecurity across the globe.
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“Nothing matters more in Congress right now than helping Ukrainians get the arms they desperately need to defend themselves,” Stephens argued.
Stephens also lambasted House Republicans’ impeachment probe into Mayorkas, whom they accuse of “high crimes and misdemeanors” linked to his management of the U.S. southern border.
“In a season of dumb ideas, it may yet be the dumbest,” Stephens said. “If policy differences are now going to become impeachable offenses — well, two can play the game. The next Republican president can now expect that a Democratic House will return the favor.”
When Collins asked Stephens why “saner members” of the Republican party weren’t able to redirect the course of politics in the House of Representatives, Stephens compared them to passengers with a drunk driver.
“There’s no getting out of the car,” Stephens said. “And they don’t dare tell the driver to slow down because who knows what he’ll do then.”
