The Washington Post's Aaron Blake highlights a new poll probing what share of the Republican base even wants a House speaker to be elected. The first thing to know is that the poll in question, conducted by Suffolk University, is deeply goofy, asking respondents which of these two sentiments they more agree with: <\/p>\n
1. Congress needs to elect a Speaker as soon as possible to fund immediate needs like support for Israel, Ukraine, and to prevent a government shutdown in November, or <\/p>\n
2. I dont care if Congress elects a Speaker. Every day that goes by without a Speaker means that Congress cant waste more of our tax dollars. <\/p>\n
You can see the poll is designed to split Americans into two groups: those who are vaguely informed about politics and understand what a speaker does, and those who are generally uninformed radio listeners and base their entire personalities around what some performative turd announces during peak commuting hours. Unfortunately, it also loaded the civics-based first option with support for Ukraine and Israel, which stacks the deck against Republican support. Still, the question basically probes whether respondents ground their beliefs more in civics or trolling. <\/p>\n
What's interesting is the sheer number of Republicans who chose the trolling option34%whereas only 57% preferred to have a speaker and a functioning government. Butsurprise!not caring whether the government remains open jumps to 40% among those who support Donald Trump in the upcoming Republican primaries. <\/p>\n
What we have here, yet again, is more evidence that Trump's base is hostile to the very concept of government, doesnt understand what it does, and is far more interested in nihilistic trolling than in developing actual, well-considered political opinions. <\/p>\n
Trump appeals to Americans who might not have ever thought deeply about government before but who very much like the idea of a showboater \"shaking up\" Washington with knee-jerk racist opinions and declarations of their group's innate superiority in America. It's a militia movement, but one armed with TV remotes rather than guns. (But also frequently guns, too.) <\/p>\n
There's another way to look at these poll results, thougha way that might better put things into perspective. Thirty-four percent of Republicans and 40% of Trump supporters chose the trolling option of \"Every day that goes by without a Speaker means that Congress cant waste more of our tax dollars\"both an expression of civic nihilism and a well-known conservative partisan taunt. <\/p>\n
It's better to have no government at all than one I don't agree with or control might be the cleaner version of that sentiment. <\/p>\n
And that's just New Leopardism. Forty percent of Trump's supporters want leopards to eat America's face if the alternative is the government doing nonconservative things, and if the leopards eat the supporters own relied-upon governmental services during a release-all-the-leopards federal shutdown, then that'll be a problem for Future Them, not Current Them. <\/p>\n
A chunk of Trumpism wants to see Congress grind to a halt because they think the outcome would be funny or cathartic. That suggests that the Republican fetish for shutting down the government whenever the option arises won't go away soonnot when the base is demanding leopards on every street corner. <\/p>\n
Sign if you agree: No more MAGA circus. Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker! <\/p>\n
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A large chunk of Republicans are quite set on voting for the face ... - Daily Kos<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Washington Post's Aaron Blake highlights a new poll probing what share of the Republican base even wants a House speaker to be elected. Continue reading