The politics of distraction has been used by politicians in both parties for years as a way to fool voters into supporting them by shifting attention away from their lies and broken promises.
However, after two years of betrayals so blatant that they aren’t even trying to hide it anymore, the GOP has turned the politics of distraction into an art form for them to sell their bill of fake-conservative goods.
In honing their artistic skills, Republicans have perfected the craft of making it look like they’re working and keeping their promises while simultaneously giving the impressions that their failures are not their fault. Two areas where this has been most obvious are abortion and illegal immigration.
After failing to keep their promise to defend life and defund Planned Parenthood, GOP leaders held a show vote on a bill protecting babies that survive the attempt on their lives. When that bill failed to advance in the Senate, as expected, so-called conservatives and pro-life groups still bragged about how they did all they could for the unborn and how the other side was to blame.
After fully funding Planned Parenthood by passing a spending bill that ensured that the baby killers will continue to get their tax-payer-financed payday, they terminated a meaningless $16,000 contract with a baby body parts harvesting company while providing over $100 million to Health and Human Services to buy parts from other sources.
After promising to eliminate DACA but then fighting to keep it and promising to fix the border but then enacting policies that resulted in a record-breaking surge in illegal border crossings, House Speaker hopeful Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) helped pass a meaningless resolution condemning voting by illegals because it degraded the election process.
After funding DACA and sanctuary cities while failing to fund the wall and ICE in the recent #MiniBusBetrayal spending bill, McCarthy waited until the House was out of session (not returning until after the election) to introduce a stand-alone bill to fund the border wall, which could have been done in any of six Continuing Resolutions or omnibus bills over the past two years.
While the bill isn’t going anywhere, McCarthy gets to play the role of political promise keeper without the need to put his money where his mouth is while simultaneously putting another notch in his vote for me as House Speaker belt.
And to those who would support Trump even if he murdered someone on Fifth Avenue, every bill that has reached his desk has been signed. These betrayals belong to him as well.
GOP leadership in Congress and the White House has been a complete failure, and even though they’ve turned the politics of distraction into a type of starving-artist, election-year sale, that doesn’t mean we should buy what they’re selling.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative. His politically incorrect and always “right” columns are also featured on NOQReport.com.
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