“It’s only a matter of time.”
It’s a saying some of us have heard a lot. Depending on the context, the words can be welcome or sound more like a sentence. In the political realm, it’s typically the latter, imparting a sense of doom on the recipient of the news that isn’t easily dispelled or counteracted.
As an example, for years, trusted conservative Patrick J. Buchanan has warned that ethnic and demographic invasions in both Europe and North America (primarily the United States) will invariably weaken both continents, transforming them into shadows of their former selves in terms of recognizability and long-term cultural sustainability.
We’re seeing it now along our southern border, where Joe Biden’s election and his disastrous immigration policy reversals from the previous administration have resulted in real consequences. Illegal border crossings have greatly increased in the past few months despite the ongoing China virus pandemic, record cold in the southwestern U.S. in February and tepid pleas from the new regime for the lawbreaking hopefuls to “wait awhile” before attempting to enter the Land of the Free without permission.
Note how the current administration isn’t telling the wave of interlopers not to come at all, like Donald Trump did from the beginning. For those out there who lectured “America will be just fine regardless of who is elected,” perhaps you should reconsider your assessment. Our country isn’t “just fine”, and illegal immigration is just one of the problems plaguing us in 2021.
Of course, there was no way to foresee Joe Biden deeming Dr. Seuss a racist… and is the Man in the Yellow Hat (of Curious George fame) really an oppressive character because he chooses to shepherd a cute little monkey? With today’s breed of woke leftists controlling the Democrat party, was it “just a matter of time” before things got this stupid?
Understandably, Joe Biden’s heinous policies have almost exclusively been handed down via executive order. Thus far at least, Congress has followed its usual do-nothing pattern and no major pieces of legislation have gotten through. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has kept her narrow majority intact to get a partial win on H.R. 1, but the senate appears to be a sticking point for Biden’s and the party’s biggest and most costly boondoggles.
Democrats are scared about it, too. Is it “only a matter of time” before they push the panic button and compel a showdown with Republicans? Alexander Bolton reported at The Hill:
“Liberal Democrats are growing more and more worried that the Senate will serve as a legislative graveyard for President Biden’s agenda unless he and other centrists rally behind doing away with the filibuster. The tensions for now are mostly under the surface as the party approaches an initial victory under Biden: passage into law of a giant $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill…
“Yet this initial victory will cover up for fears among Democrats that big-ticket items passed in the House will die in the Senate unless the party greases the gears for change by ending the filibuster.
“Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is insisting the Senate won’t be a graveyard — the term Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) welcomed in describing what would happen to legislation passed by the Democratic House to the Senate he controlled over the past two years.”
“Chucky” Schumer was non-committal about his plans to revive a debate on ending the filibuster, saying only that “we’re going to figure out the best way to get big, bold action on a whole lot of fronts,” and, “people are going to be forced to vote on them.” As would be expected, “Chucky” didn’t specify who the “people” were in his threat or how he plans to “force” them to vote, but it’s not hard to figure out either mystery.
Who knows? Maybe “Chucky” and Nancy Pelosi had a dungeon fashioned in the capitol building’s basement just in case Trump supporters managed to breach the 12-foot fences and razor wire encircling their personal fortress at some point.
In the larger sense, one almost feels sorry for the longtime senate Democrat leader from Andrew Cuomo’s state. Getting his caucus to obey his dictates is akin to urging a gaggle of three-year-olds to stay in the preschool lunch line unsupervised and then induce them to eat their vegetables before the chicken nuggets. A lot of the little tykes will probably do as they’re told but there’s always those one or two holdouts who will need their mouths pried open and throats massaged to get ‘em to swallow it.
In public, Democrats are a unified, conformist lot, but occasionally the ruse is shattered. Can “Chucky” pull enough committee posts to impress upon the sheep the dire need to help out Grampa Joe? If simple reasoning doesn’t work, there’s always torture to fall back on, right? With the deep state and CIA safely under party control now, there’s an infamous “black site” waiting somewhere for additional coaxing if required.
On the filibuster, the Democrats’ unresponsive pariahs are West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema. Folks close to the situation suggest Grampa Joe himself will need to change his stance on the filibuster before the two traditional rules defenders might be swayed. When the new president sees most of his agenda being buried in Mitch McConnell’s legislation “graveyard”, the principle-free swamp politician will almost certainly alter his outlook. No problem there!
You could legitimately say it’s just a matter of time before Biden bends. Not only is there the very real chance Democrats will lose control of one or both congressional chambers after the 2022 election, but the mentally slipping near octogenarian recognizes he’s a lame duck as well. Though Joe hasn’t signaled that he definitely is done after one term, it takes a leap of logic to surmise he’d even consider running again.
If nothing else, his “next in line,” Kamala Harris, will be impatient to tighten her talons on the Oval Office.
Therefore, the urgency to push through some sort of agenda quickly will grow more intense as the days and weeks pass. Biden’s first one hundred days deadline arrives in early May. Bolton’s report indicated there are several items coming up (including the horrific H.R. 1) that party reactionaries will demand movement on. It won’t take long before congressional Dems start whispering about the 25th Amendment if Joe stubbornly clings to parliamentary road blocks and the window of opportunity slams shut.
There’s always the possibility that one or more Republicans (Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are perpetually on the edge) will cross the line and say they’re for one or more of Grampa Joe’s priorities, and the public declaration will add even more pressure on liberals to ditch the filibuster.
It's only a matter of time before the pot comes to a boil. Will Grampa Joe and “Chucky” wield the spoon or simply shut off the heat? I wouldn’t bet the latter course ever happens.
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