If you thought that somehow red-blooded Republicans might take on their patriotic duty and begin opposing Trump at any turn, you have been made a fool.
Instead of standing up against the demagogue and trying to protect the last semblance of the party’s reputation, Republicans are already moving forward with an aggressive agenda intent on priming the presidency and government at-large for a hostile, Right-wing takeover.
The first stop on their collective reign of terror was carried out on Monday while most of the nation enjoyed their last day of the holiday season. Without much debate or feedback from their constituents, House Republicans overrode party leaders and voted to significantly cut the power of the independent ethics committee set up in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis.
The gutting of the office has effectively killed it, a major step in rolling back regulations against big banks and corporations.
Majority leaders Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Representative Kevin McCarthy of California both opposed the measure, but the measure nonetheless is to be pushed through, handing the ethical oversight from an independent committee to the lawmakers themselves.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi issued a statement on the drastic decision:
“Republicans claim they want to ‘drain the swamp,’ but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House G.O.P. has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions. Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress.”
