Americans have witnessed a number of different varieties of politics over the past two decades. It hasn’t quite reached the level of Baskin Robbins’ 31 flavors, but it feels close.
The Clintons warned us of the politics of personal destruction. The Opposition Media claims President Trump practices or legitimizes the politics of divisiveness. The left claims everyone who doesn’t agree with them is a practitioner of the politics of bigotry. And then there’s Stormy Daniels and her politics of, well, let’s just leave it right there.
Now we have another kind of politics and the locus of this development appears to be, strangely enough, Arizona and the most memorable instance came during President Trump’s first Congressional session.
That was when the late Sen. John McCain cast the deciding vote against the repeal of Obamacare, something he and the rest of the GOP majority in the Senate had been promising voters they would do ever since the healthcare abomination was passed. It wasn’t a policy dispute. McCain’s negative vote was purely a product of the politics of petulance. He was angry with Trump over a perceived slight that dated back to the presidential campaign. He took his revenge by denying Trump, conservatives and the nation the repeal of Obamacare, which McCain himself had supported pre–Trump.
Now the mantle of the politics of petulance has been picked up by Sen. Jeff Flake (R–His Name Says It All). Flake is leaving the Senate because his constant showboating sniping at President Trump drove his approval rating so low in Arizona there was no way he could win a Republican primary for the seat he occupied.
His petty revenge involves judicial appointments. The one area where the Trump administration was receiving almost universal praise from Republicans and conservatives was in the area of judicial appointments. (Although after Judge Kavanaugh joined the left in supporting Planned Parenthood, we are beginning to have some doubts.)
Judicial confirmations don’t require Curator of the Senate Mitch McConnell’s bizarre super–majority of 60 votes to pass. A mere majority will do for judges. Now, thanks to Flakey Flake and his politics of petulance, confirmations have ground to a halt.
The confirmation of almost two dozen judicial appointments has been postponed, because as The Hill put it, “Jeff Flake has vowed to oppose all court picks until he gets a vote on legislation protecting special counsel Robert Mueller.”
Since Republicans only have a one–vote majority on the juridical committee Flakes opposition means no nominations can be approved for a floor vote by the entire Senate.
In other words, no judges until the narcissist gets to protect the obsessionist.
Negotiations are ongoing with Flake. Meanwhile, the question for the rest of us is: How many join us in counting down the days until Flake is forever gone from the Senate?
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)." Read more of Michael Shannon's reports — Go Here Now.