Thread by @SeanCasten

A few more thoughts on this tweet that I typed as I was walking off the House floor today, angry and wondering what has become of any semblance of decency among the Republican caucus:

https://twitter.com/seancasten/status/1679868721295409152

1. You know what I think of Kevin McCarthy. To recap, he is a shriveled husk of a intellectually-limited, emotionally-stunted boy who is incapable of leadership or patriotism who only got his job because no one else in his caucus had his combination of stupidity and ambition.

2. His cowardice and fragility led him to let the most wing-nutted members of his caucus set the agenda. (A fun floor conversation yesterday was watching him talk to Chip Roy in the well and we were joking how proud KM must be to have access to Republican leadership.)

3. But that’s not really new news. Everyone, R & D knows who he is. As one of my R colleagues said to me during his 15-vote effort to become speaker “none of us fear or respect him.” What today was about was - per MLK - the silence of our friends.

4. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is the bill that funds all of our military operations. It is typically bipartisan and is about as serious as Congress gets. What weapons of war we fund, which allies we share them with, how we recruit. National security is a BFD.

5. We can have our political debates about any number of issues but it is generally understood that when Americans are willing to sacrifice their lives to defend us, it’s time to check the crazies at the door. But today, the crazies won.

6. They won first because KM put the crazies in positions of power. But second because none of the “moderate” Republicans had the courage to stay the hell out of KrazyTown.

7. The @HouseGOP voted OVERWHELMINGLY in favor of amendments to the NDAA that - among other things…

@HouseGOP 7a. Said that if you choose to serve our country and you are (a) a woman, (b) find yourself in need of abortion care and (c) deployed on a base in a state that has decided you are not worthy of equal protection in the wake of Dobbs you are not allowed to travel for an abortion.

@HouseGOP 7b. Said that there is nothing in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution that is, in any way racist. I leave you to discuss what the now non-racist 3/5ths clause means.

@HouseGOP 7c. Said that the military should no longer seek to ensure diversity and inclusion in the ranks.

@HouseGOP 7d. Show of hands now: who here picked their gender or their sexuality? I didn’t. But they added an amendment that said if your gender identity doesn’t match your genitals you can’t get the care you need to be your best and truest self.

@HouseGOP 7e. Said that if you disobeyed a direct order from your commanding officer and refused to get a COVID vaccine you cannot be subject to disciplinary action. This is f***ing insane. How the hell do you run a military if you can disobey orders?

@HouseGOP 7f. Requires a study to determine if vaccines actually help cure COVID. This is BATS**T CRAZYTOWN. WE ARE ACTUALLY STILL DEBATING WHETHER VACCINES WORK. Millions of Americans died and now they aren’t. But the death cult of the @GOP wants more blood.

@HouseGOP @GOP 8. I could go on, but review what this means. First - and I can’t believe we need to say this - the MAJORITY of Americans are (a) women (b) racial minorities and/or (c) LGBTQ+. The NDAA is effectively telling all of them to pound sand. Consider what this does for recruitment.

@HouseGOP @GOP 9. Furthermore, it sends a message to soldiers who disobeyed their superiors and refused to get vaccinated SO THAT THEIR FELLOW SOLDIERS WOULDN’T GET SICK AND DIE that obedience is not required. This how you destroy not only unit cohesion, but unit survival.

@HouseGOP @GOP 10. And yes, this makes me angry. As it should make anyone who loves our country and honors those who serve in our military. But it didn’t pass the House just because a handful of lawmakers are crazy. It passed the House because EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN voted for it.

@HouseGOP @GOP 11. Is every member of the @HouseGOP a homophobic, racist, science denying lunatic? No. But the lesson of today is that the ones who aren’t are massive cowards completely unfit for any position of leadership.

@HouseGOP @GOP 12. There is space - and demand - for reasonable differences of opinion in our democracy. This isn’t about whether we agree. It’s about whether we can trust that - differences aside - we trust that we’ve got each other’s back if we ever find ourselves in a foxhole together.

@HouseGOP @GOP 13. That’s usually a metaphor, conflating the horrors of war with the much lower-stakes lives that most of us are fortunate enough to lead. But today, the entire @HouseGOP told us - both literally and metaphorically - that they don’t give a damn about the rest of the unit. /fin