a flock of four

The Republicans have exhausted their hysteria over the Doctor Seuss kerfuffle, claiming that all of his 60 books have been banned when only six were, and ignoring that the decision was made by a private company and not the government. They’ve passed on clutching their pearls over Cardi B.’s “Wet Ass Pussy”, realizing that they would only bump up its sales because of — you know — capitalism. So they’re going with one of their classics, the border crisis.

They are basically accurate on the seriousness of the situation. Biden is scrambling to humanely house and process the 13,000 unaccompanied minors there, having inherited a longstanding problem greatly exacerbated by Trump. As kids climb over the unclimbable wall, the GOP further muddles the narrative by declaring that terrorists are flocking there as well. Truth be known, since October 1st of last year through yesterday, only four people matching names on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database have been arrested on the southern border.

The Repubs have a lot of distracting to do. In eight weeks, Biden has passed his massive recovery act and well exceeded vaccine and vaccination goals. He’s using his savvy from 40+ years of public service to navigate the treacherous waters within the Beltway. He has actually done much of what he said he’d do when campaigning, including unpopular moves like canceling the Keystone Pipeline. And he has already shown more compassion and positivity than Trump could ever muster. The juxtaposition of Biden’s smile and Trump’s scowl is an ongoing joy of watching too much CNN and MSNBC.

Meanwhile, Aging Orange slips further and further off the radar. His grip on the party is still solid, but I firmly believe that a run in 2024 is out of the question, given his mounting legal problems. Despite the genuine threat of domestic terrorism, his Capitol crusaders are scattering as more of the insurrectionists face serious charges. The QAnon Shaman, minus his horns and fur, now looks like a tired, scared middle-aged man.