With the government shut down, Mike Lawler has been roaming the Capitol hallways looking for a viral moment. He finally got it yesterday by staking out House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Not a great look for either of them, but there’s only one instigator here. Lawler gathers the media with props in hand to create drama and cheap publicity. Towards what end? His office issued a press release moments after the encounter, boasting about the clash of the would-be titans. Mike Lawler speaking untruths to the out-of-power. Truth to power would be much too dangerous.
Red shirts and blue shirts gathered round the video clips, and the X games were on. Endless commentary from the Xers about who won based on body language, language language, and irrelevant facts. The saddest part was that Mike Lawler trolled it all in the after-hours, commenting on every comment, trying to ensure that it all broke through. And what do you know, he won the big prize. An attaboy meme from his boss:
And we, his constituents, got the expected email today from Lawler extolling his victory.
Oh, Mike of the tall tales. You “met” with Jeffries? Looked like an ambush to me.
While you were confronting Jeffries about “his role in forcing the shutdown,” your Republican colleague, Marjorie Taylor Greene — with whom you vote in lock step 98% of the time in obeisance to the mad king — was on CNN pinning blame on Republican leadership for the shutdown. She’s able to acknowledge that Republicans own all of the levers of power, so must take responsibility for both the shutdown and coming up with a solution to the healthcare affordability crisis. She’s also still demanding release of the Epstein files, by the way. How about you?
Jeffries refuses to engage in bipartisan negotiation? He’s been demanding it. The House Democrats sent a detailed letter to Mike Johnson today urging him to join the negotiating table, detailing the urgency of addressing health coverage. But both Johnson and John Thune have declared that there’s nothing to negotiate until the Democrats sign the Republican funding resolution on the dotted line, which will only ensure the continued abdication of spending authority to Donald Trump, and put millions of Americans’ health at risk.
You demand that he sign that paper in your hands to extend ACA credits? But you don’t bother to mention that you’re only offering a one year extension, while declaring that the credits must go at the end of that year. Insurance premiums will double with the elimination of those credits, and you’ve offered no alternative solution.
Somehow you still find time to fill social media with high-minded discourse like this:
I know your X fanboys voted against high-minded discourse, and it’s fun to collect “likes” in the dark web and the Oval Office, but all of this is truly juvenile and destructive. It’s certainly not advancing the interests of your constituents.
My counsel to you is to be better. If you won’t listen to your constituents, at least listen to your favorite First Lady, who wants you to “be best.” Thus saith Lady Melania:
Rule of Lawler 