Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Can Barrasso be a "Flake"?

Want to know what loyalty is worth these days? Ask John Barrasso.

Former White House strategist and neo-nationalist Steve Bannon declared war on Wyoming’s Junior Senator. Bannon identified Barrasso as a target, announcing on Fox News, “Nobody is safe. We’re coming after all of them and we’re going to win.”

Bannon recruited candidates to challenge Barrasso in next year’s Republican primary. One is Jackson resident Foster Friess. He says women should hold their knees together instead of using birth-control. The other is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s brother Eric Prince, founder of the scandal-ridden Blackwater, who got filthy-rich off the war in Iraq.

In other states, Bannon-like candidates include a convicted felon and one known for using racial slurs.

Wyoming Republicans were primed for Bannon. They recently elected rightwing extremist Frank Eathorne as party chair. Eathorne responded to Bannon’s challenge with a shot over Barrasso’s bow. Barrasso, Eathorne said, has some votes that need explaining.

Can’t you just hear John? “Why me Steve Bannon. Why have you forsaken me?” John must be immersed in the Book of Job. “For the thing I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Job’s friends answered him as Barrasso’s friends might. “Affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.”

Bannon’s challenge didn’t materialize out of thin air. If Barrasso thinks Trump isn’t behind the Bannon ploy, he’s as silly as he looks when photo-bombing Mitch McConnell.  

No one sold his soul to the Republican Party at such a bargain price. Look up “partisan.” There’s a photo of John Barrasso standing to the right of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. It seems he is frozen in time in that position.

Being called loyal doesn’t begin to honor the role John played all these years in the Senate. He’s been loyal even when it hurt his own constituents. He’s been loyal even when he knew millions of Americans were going to be hurt by his support of GOP legislation.

Unlike Tennessee Senators Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, John has refused to question Trump and acknowledge what is obvious. The emperor has no clothes.

British politician Neil Kinnock could have tipped John off. “Loyalty,” he warned, “is a fine quality, but in excess it fills political graveyards.”

Senator Barrasso is at a crossroad. He can choose to do what Luther Strange did when Bannon went after him in the recent Alabama Republican Primary. Senator Strange, the incumbent, decided to make it a contest over who can be the most loyal to Trump. Bannon campaigned for Roy Moore, a man twice removed from the Supreme Court for improprieties, painting Strange as a part of the establishment as he will do to Barrasso.

Trump and the GOP leadership endorsed Strange, which Bannon used to the incumbent’s disadvantage. Bannon told Trump-loving voters that the GOP leadership, which includes Barrasso, “think you’re a pack of morons, they think you’re nothing but rubes.” Imagine this scenario playing out across Wyoming in the 2018 GOP primary.

Bannon beat Luther Strange and he will beat Barrasso if John plays the game as it was played by the Alabama incumbent.

The other choice Barrasso has is to travel the road Senators Flake and Corker chose. Take up John McCain’s mantel. Be honest about Trump’s fitness. Join them. Sound the alarm. Trump poses a danger to the country. Barrasso knows it as much as anyone.  

Hey John, appeal to the fundamental patriotism of Wyoming people and announce you’ll no longer tolerate the lies and the incompetence. Announce you’ll not continue to support a mentally ill president who can’t disavow neo-Nazis. Be honest about how dangerous Trump is to America’s future.

Stop defending the indefensible. Return to your moderate roots. Shed the rightwing shtick. Demonstrate loyalty to your country and your constituents, instead of your party. 

Be courageous John Barrasso, and show the voters that there is something bigger at stake than ego. The future of the U.S. is on the ballot in 2018.




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