Grok
If the Democrats want something, they will have to fight for it, and if they win one fight, Republicans have to ensure that it comes at a painful cost.Speaker Johnson failed to get the debt limit extended with his “negotiated” Continuing Resolution. His 1,500-page “compromise” fell afoul of Grok’s prodigious abilities. Count on it: Elon didn’t read the entire bill. He had his AI do it for him, and in less time than it takes to say, “You’ve got to be kidding,” Grok found dozens of giveaways to leftists. As soon as America heard of the Speaker’s crime, that steaming pile of paper found its way to the shredder. Sunshine to the rescue! It’s time to keep that principle working.
On January 3, there will be a new House, Senate, and Leadership. Assuming Mike Johnson has even a third-grade reading skill, the tea leaves will tell him to step out of the way. He chose Ukraine funding as his personal hill to die on. Since Americans are far more concerned about our border than Ukraine’s, like Haman, he’s building the gallows for his speakership.
On his way out, Johnson should tell the Republican conference that unity is far more important than any personal or parochial interests. If they follow that advice, it’s likely that Jim Jordan will receive the gavel.
Naturally, getting Republicans to agree on anything is like herding cats, so anything I suggest from here on may just be a fever dream. Please humor me. If enough of you sign on to these ideas and tell your Congress Critters, it could happen. And let’s assume that Trump’s nominees are confirmed and in place before this comedy starts.
<img alt captext="Grok” src=”https://conservativenewsbriefing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/in-congress-its-time-to-use-the-dems-against-themselves.jpg” width=”550″>
Image by Grok.
Dems agreed to the final CR but would not allow a Debt Limit increase. Suppose that the new Speaker works a miracle and gets a simple debt limit increase passed in the House. Now, it goes to the Senate. Dems will crow that it’s “Trump’s debt” if they let it pass, but no one will remember that for longer than five minutes unless they watch MSDNC.
Of course, the legacy media channels have ratings lower than Hallmark and the Food Channel, so that’s of no practical concern. The optics of concern to us are mounted on the top of our rifles and pistols, not in the chirons of unwatched cable channels. But suppose the Dems filibuster the debt increase in the Senate. Please!
If Majority Leader Thune won’t play along, then VP Vance can sit in to perform his constitutional role as President of the Senate. Since the Dems have declared a filibuster, the VP can tell them to stand up and start talking. They’ve gotten so accustomed to simply stopping a bill with that magic word that they may be unable to pick up the marbles for their turn. But the process isn’t exactly new. When Republicans were pushing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Southern Democrats tried to talk it to death. They talked from March 26 to June 19, a total of 57 working days.
In the case of the Civil Rights Act, there were distinct political oxen being gored. Southern Democrats had still not given up on the Reconstruction era Black Codes, as exemplified by George Wallace’s defiant stance on the steps of the University of Alabama and memorialized in the 2011 movie “The Help.”
Ultimately, the Democrats gave in, and civil rights reform became law. As luck would have it, my family had just moved from the Seattle area to Huntsville, Alabama, so I spent my sixth grade on with the death throes of the Confederacy in my town, school, and church. Evil dies hard.
The Democrats don’t care one whit about the debt limit. This is all about theater. So, let’s raise the curtain. As the Dems talk, Conservatives hit every camera and microphone about how the Dems are shutting down the government. They want optics? We’ll give them optics. They just won’t be the optics the Dems want. Of course, because the debt limit is stuck, the Democrats have just given us more ammunition.
If we can’t spend more than a set amount, we can’t spend. OMG! What a F——G nightmare! So the House sends over only the bills that fit under the debt limit. That would be the NDAA. It might include parts of the DOJ and Homeland Security. But it would definitely not include the Department of Education, most of the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, and some other bits that escape my notice at the moment. Dozens of “job training” programs would miss the cut, as would all foreign aid.
Dems hate balanced budgets, but if they actually filibuster the debt limit, they will be imposing a hard balanced budget, right now. And it will be obvious who’s doing it. So, they may be smart enough to dodge this bullet. But what about the next departmental bill they block?
Second verse, same as the first, a little bit louder, a little bit worse. When the Education bill comes through, the new Speaker needs to make certain that it kills a lot of Leftist sacred cows. When the Dems filibuster it, no new bill follows. The Energy Department? More of the same.
Fund the parts that lease out oil and gas drilling spots. But stop the research. We don’t need megabillions for CERN or some other exotic particle playtoy. Forget to fund NIH. That $40 B-plus expense caused out plandemic, and it’s not certain that any research it has funded has been worthwhile.
I could rant for several more pages, but it’s simple. Never give in to the left. If they don’t like the way we fund a department they love, then don’t negotiate. If they filibuster, make them keep talking and let America see how much they hate us.
In the meantime, America will be just fine, and all those unemployed bureaucrats will make great talkers on the channels no one watches. All it takes is a Speaker who understands the word “No,” and a President of the Senate who tells the Dems to put their mouth in front of the microphone in the Senate chamber.
No biggie.
Ted Noel is a retired physician who posts on social media as Doctor Ted. His Doctor Ted’s Prescription podcast is available on multiple podcast channels.
