Well folks, we’re there.  Let’s just let it happen.  Republicans are now the party of fascism and stupidity, and they’re showing it in spades with this latest assault on the US government.  Yes, they’ve been hostage takers for the last quarter century, holding a gun to the heads of the economy, everyone not white, veterans, active duty military, children, Dream kids, LGBT identified, and everyone else who happens to disagree with them.  Until TFG took over, though, we all knew that most of it was Kabuki play, threatening to wreck everyone’s lives to gain some kind of political gain which was almost always either destructive or pointless.  The unspoken feature of that hostage taking was they weren’t really serious.  They knew that adults in the room would win out, pull us off of the brink and extract some political ransom for doing so.

Watching the catastrophe of today makes the recent past look quaint.  Today’s Republicans, now controlled by a small group of political terrorists, have thrown out that historical tactic.  Led by idiots like Matt Gaetz, Paul Gaza, MTG, and Lauren Gropert, all those rules are out the window.  The Insurrectionist Wing of the GOP really do want to wreck the government to impose their will on 330 Americans whether they want it or not.  They’ve been elected to lead our constitutional democracy when their goal is to destroy it.  Kevin McCarthy, who’s proven to be a shithead in all things, really doesn’t want to destroy the government, but he sold his soul to the Insurrectionists just so he could fondle the Speaker’s gavel if just for a minute.  We’re less than 40 hours from a government shutdown, and the terrorists have also stated their goal to next defund the government by refusing to raise the debt limit their favorite hostage.

After years of worry and stress over this constant barrage of political and economic attacks, I say let’s let them do it.  Shut down the government; throw the economy into chaos; destroy hundreds of billions of dollars of Americans’ value.  Hell, while we’re at it, defund the US government and default on the debt.  The destruction, which is indescribable, will hopefully be enough to jolt US voters out of their collective coma to relegate these fascists to the dustbin of history, at least for another 5 or 6 decades.

Nothing else has worked or will work until these ignoramuses get what they want.  They won’t like it when they do, and it will hurt millions of people, but I have concluded that the only way we rid ourselves of these goons is to let them destroy themselves, then get them replaced with more normal people, and then our laws and regulations strengthened to make it harder to do this the next time they want to try it.  We’ll have to pick up the pieces, rebuild, and then move forward.

The solution to this relentless siege on our democracy will only happen by taking back local, state, and federal governments, arresting, charging, and jailing all insurrectionists and passing laws to keep other terrorists away from the levers of power when they crawl out from under their rock and try it again.

So, let’s do it.

“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” — William Shakespeare

If the Texas GOP political delegation were a cast of characters they would almost certainly come from the Wizard of Oz. Louie Gohmert would almost certainly be the scarecrow in search of a brain. Dan Patrick would play the role of the Tin Man searching for a heart. That would place Ted Cruz as the lion searching for courage.

Whether he’s bailing the state when the freeze comes, buckling under to Donald Trump even after Trump insulted his wife and father, or assuming the position with Tucker Carlson, Cruz has long established that he is far from being the king of the jungle.

One could analyze his statements about the insurrectionists and then his overwhelming desire to somehow take it back. Psychologists could analyze the whys and what fors until the cows come home. I think what we know and what we suspect are not all that far away from each other. Cruz was a part of a plan to delay the certification of the election. I’m sure they trusted him with the parliamentarian side of the plot. No one ever accused Cruz of being dumb.

The less you know in a conspiracy the better. I’m willing to guess he didn’t know about the violence before January 6th. Goodness knows what he would have done with that information had he known. Maybe he would have assumed the position. Maybe he would have blown the whistle. My guess is that the human part of him was horrified at what transpired.

That’s the part that came out and called the participants terrorists. It is one thing to steal an election through parlor tricks and slight of hand. It’s another to steal it on the tip of a sword. As per usual, his first words spoke the truth before he forgot who was in charge.

This brings us to the real scary part of this dilemma. The story is not that Cruz was groveling, but who he was groveling to. We would expect him to grovel to Trump. Having him grovel to a prime time talking head is a cross between bizarre and unsettling. How did Carlson get this much power and who exactly is Carlson accountable to?

A number of folks have thought Carlson could make a run for president. I suppose it makes sense. He has money. He has name recognition. He has a brain. He can match being an outsider with his knowledge of the key players on the inside. However, this would involve him getting in the game. He can snipe from the outside and wield much more power. Power and a lack of responsibility is a dangerous combination. No one on the left has this kind of power. It could be about Carlson, but it really isn’t. Democratic politicians don’t grovel to the talking heads. As long as the wizard denies Cruz and others their courage people like Carlson will be in total control.