In politics, some things don’t change, like “success has a thousand fathers, and failure is an orphan.” This is clearly exemplified by Republican reaction to Biden’s recent COVID-19 Relief bill. It didn’t get a single Republican vote, billed as “too large,” and “unnecessary.” Democrats passed it anyway and President Biden signed it into law. Republicans, including its leadership, now praise the dollars flowing into their districts, even trying to take credit for the legislation.

House Speaker McCarthy applauded funding for the Bakersfield Federal Courthouse. Second ranking House Republican, Steve Scalise, takes credit for federal funds “he obtained” going to Southeast Louisiana.

Senate Minority Leader McConnell boasted that he helped deliver funds for the Blue Grass Army Depot.

Florida Republican Representative Maria Salazar tweeted that she was “so proud to announce that the Biden Administration has just implemented ‘my’ bipartisan COVID Relief Bill…” It was neither “her” Relief Bill, nor a “bipartisan” bill in the sense that any Republican supported it, including Salazar herself.

North Carolina Representative Madison Cawthorn praised millions of dollars going to health care in his district.

Mississippi Senator Wicker lauded the $28.6 billion in aid to restaurants. Yes, he endorsed that money for aid to restaurants, as did most everybody else. But he voted against the final bill.

Alaska’s Senator Murkowski who has long convinced the media clones that she is a “different kind of Republican” lauded the money going to Alaska. She also voted against the bill. A “different kind of Republican?” It sounds more like the usual hypocrisy.

When pressed on having it both ways, the typical Republican response is that even bad legislation sometimes has something good in it. Okay, they liked some of what was in it, and praise themselves because they “got the money” for their constituents, even though not supporting the bill. If they love the money, they should quit whining about “Biden’s socialist agenda.” 

But let’s face it. Trashing Democrats for “Socialism” while benefitting and taking credit for what the money does for them and their constituents is politics as usual.

In contrast to politics as usual, we are witnessing the very unusual. Presidents leaving office usually are relieved to turn the levers of power over to someone else. A president who presided over losses of the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate, not to mention having inspired an insurrection that resulted in the first invasion of the Capitol since the War of 1812, would normally be expected to disappear.

But then, the Trump presidency has been an outlier from the start. Absolutely no political “expert” or soothsayer of any stripe could have predicted that the ultra-conservative daughter of former VP Richard Cheney, the nation’s highest ranking Republican woman, would, as of this writing, be likely stripped of her rank and disparaged by conservative Republicans. Adding to the irony is that her rival for the No. 3 House GOP post, Elise Stefanik, formerly criticized Trump, has a more moderate voting record, and voted for Trump’s agenda less than Cheney herself.

The explanation for this is simple enough. Stefanik is forgiven because during Trump’s second impeachment trial she voted to acquit Trump while Cheney voted to convict, insisting that Trump’s “big lie” about election fraud be abandoned. Cheney believes that to be successful, Republicans must abandon Trump. Only a few Republicans, including Adam Kinzinger, representing a neighboring Illinois district across the state line, are willing to explicitly move away from Trump.

Trump’s continuing stranglehold on the GOP reveals the dilemma faced by Republicans, and their loyalty and/or fear of Trump. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham was an early Trump critic. Upon Trump’s election, he became arguably Trump’s most sycophantic supporter. With the Trump-inspired insurrection, Graham said he had had enough. But when the insurrection was soft-pedaled and Trump let off the hook by his supporters, Graham now insists that the GOP cannot grow without Trump.

After the insurrection, House Minority Leader McCarthy appeared to hold Trump responsible. But with Trump support holding firm, McCarthy immediately traveled to Mar-a-Lago, seeking Trump’s forgiveness and pledging obedience henceforth.

House Minority Leader McConnell, though voting to acquit Trump during the impeachment hearings, explicitly held Trump responsible for the insurrection. For this, he was once again roundly condemned by Trump as unfit for Republican leadership. But the stoic McConnell, accustomed to unpopularity and unmoved by insults, continues his major objective of opposing the Biden agenda and regaining a GOP Senate majority in 2022.

The — sorry, “unprecedented” — hold of a failed, twice impeached, former president on the GOP has a simple explanation, namely the real — or imagined? — continued Trump loyalty of enough Republican voters to threaten Republican incumbents with a primary challenge in 2022. Trump’s chief weapon is to sic a primary challenger on any incumbent that dares to criticize him in any way. Trump cares not a whit about the GOP per se — only on achieving personal revenge on his critics.

Will the GOP look only to the short run, trying to save incumbents from Trump’s wrath in their attempt to regain power in 2022? Or, do they look to the longer run, abandoning Trump, and try to “expand the tent” to account for changing demographics and the practical needs of Americans in this changing society?

Politicians characteristically look to the short run, to the next election. McCarthy and McConnell want to regain power as soon as possible, namely in 2022. That gives an apparent edge to those who support Graham’s view — “I’ve determined we can’t grow without him.”

But who knows how that will play out. Kansas has a Democratic governor, even as Trump supported the losing GOP candidate. Once past 2022, as the 2024 presidential election draws nigh, will Trump be seen as “getting in the way?” If Trump doesn’t run, will the Trump wannabe, Florida Governor DeSantis, be their candidate?

And the Democrats? Best that they continue moving the country forward as the GOP self-destructs over fealty to a twice-impeached failed ex-president.

— John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Saturdays in the Monroe Times.