Back during the Iraq war, version two, when Liz’s dad was Vice President, he used a phrase that stuck with me, “The Terrorists will have won”. In one aspect, the terrorists are winning right now. What terrorists. Bear with me on this one

After Obama won, in 2008, the Tea Party movement began. This was a far right movement that desired small government, with little government oversight. They were viciously against the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare. To me, they were hate filled. I still remember one of their televised protests, where a tea partier was holding a signing of Obama looking like a crazed black monkey.

The Tea Party movement begat the Freedom Caucus which was formed in January 2015. Freedom Caucus members consisted of Tea Party members and other far right conservatives. The Republican Party was shifting more to the right. John Boehner, the Republican minority House leader, became so frustrated with the extremism of the Freedom Caucus, that he resigned, in October 2015.

Then came Donald Trump. He took the Freedom Caucus movement and he ran with it. Though Republicans will keep on denying and disputing it, Putin saw an opportunity to destabilize America and he interfered with the 2016 election process. He wanted Trump as President and Putin got what he wanted. I would categorize Putin as one of the terrorists. For all the nightmare that Putin is going through with Ukraine, his heart is warmed by the current clown show in congress. He knows that this will continue over the next two years. Congress will not be able to govern.

Trump became President in 2016. The Freedom Caucus morphed into a more extreme right MAGA Trumpism. Trumpism included believing Putin over US Intelligence agencies (Helsinki 2018) disrupting NATO and the G7 and abandoning the environment. Trumpism also resulted in loons suc as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz being elected to Congress. The ultimate result of Trumpism was January 6. The frosting on the cake is that most Republican Members are still supportive of what happened on January 6. Big win for the terrorist Putin.

We are now entering day three of the House Speakership clown show, with no end in sight. I watched Lauren Boebert drive Sean Hannity crazy last night as she tried to justify why McCarthy, with 202 votes should back down, instead of the 20 dissenters. It was beautiful to watch. Frightening too. McCarthy has negotiated everything away including only having one Member call for a vote to remove the House Speaker. This is what it will be like for the next two years. Yes, I consider Gaetz, Boeberet and their ilk to be terrorists. They are holding the country hostage. Trump, who only last year had control of this party, is losing that control. He is still supporting McCarthy. Yet yesterday, on the House floor, Boebert, a Trump creature, basically told Trump to ‘stuff it’.

What is going to happen. Nobody knows. Literally, nobody.