Republicans double down on MAGA extremism

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, currently the GOP Minority Leader in the House, is slated to become the new Speaker of the House on Jan.3. In order to achieve his goal of getting the Speaker's gavel he has to cater to a dangerous and large fascistic section of the Republican House caucus and yesterday they already exercised their muscle by announcing that investigations of the Biden Administration, not plans to make life better for the people, will be their top priority. The GOP gained its slim majority in the House only after disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters in states across the country. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Evoking memories of the days when Republicans in control of the House used non-stop investigations and the Tea Party to almost bring down then-President Barack Obama’s historic agenda, the leaders of the GOP in the House made it clear Thursday that they intend to do the same thing to President Joe Biden.

The lawmakers who will run the Oversight and Judiciary Committees pledged to make Hunter Biden’s laptop their main concern when they take over Jan. 3.

They declared, however, that the real targets of their investigations will be President Biden himself and the Justice Department, which they said has been turned into a political tool by the administration.

The GOP leadership, also under pressure from the fascists, pledged that it will launch an investigation into Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, accusing her of “unfair treatment” of the insurrectionists who, among many other things, tried to kill her on Jan. 6, 2021, when they attacked the Capitol in an attempted coup by the outgoing Trump administration.

Kari Lake, the Trumpite who lost the gubernatorial race in Arizona, meanwhile, flew to MAGA headquarters at Mar-a-Lago to get marching orders about what she should do from her master, Donald Trump.

Luxurious and opulent Palm Beach is apparently now the epicenter of activity for the right-wingers calling themselves “populists.” On the advice of Trump, she has thus far refused to concede her loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs in the race for governor of Arizona.

Less than 24 hours

It has taken Republicans less than 24 hours after retaking the slimmest of majorities in the U.S House of Representatives to declare that investigation of the president’s family is their “top priority.” They said their investigation will focus on overseas business dealings of the president’s son, Hunter.

Hunter Biden is already the focus of a federal investigation, which itself was launched for political reasons during the Trump administration, but the investigators have thus far not filed any charges. The younger Biden is not involved with the administration in any capacity.

But top Republicans insist their inquiry will determine the extent of Joe Biden’s alleged involvement in his son’s business dealings, including during the elder Biden’s time as vice president.

The implication is that somehow then-Vice President Biden used his position to benefit his son. The rank hypocrisy of that claim, considering how Trump’s son-in-law has raked in billions of dollars from Trump’s favors to the Saudis, is more than obvious. Essentially, Trump used his entire presidency as a machine to fuel the enrichment of himself and much of his family.

In a statement almost beyond belief for the level of its hypocrisy, James Comer, a dedicated Trump bootlicker and the incoming Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, declared: “The president’s (meaning Biden’s) participation in enriching his family is, in a word, abuse of the highest order. I want to be clear: This is an investigation of Joe Biden, and that’s where our focus will be next Congress.”

Comer was joined at the press conference by Rep. Jim Jordan, the MAGA fascist and former high school wrestling coach who stood by and simply watched for years as his team’s medical doctor sexually abused the boys for whom Jordan was responsible. Jordan is in line to become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

“The Biden Family’s business deals are a national security threat,” he declared.

The White House described the Republican show Thursday as politically motivated.

“Instead of working with President Biden to address issues important to the American people, like lower costs, congressional Republicans’ top priority is to go after President Biden with politically motivated attacks chock-full of long-debunked conspiracy theories,” the administration said in a statement.

There actually was a “report” written by Senate Republicans in September 2020 that claimed Hunter Biden had “cashed in” on his father’s position, but the findings did not implicate his father in any wrongdoing.

The newly announced investigation is one of many that House Republicans say they could lead. Others include the Biden administration’s troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt by Trump supporters on Capitol Hill will be dissolved when the new Congress takes over.

Rank-and-file Republican lawmakers have nominated Kevin McCarthy, the current minority leader, as their choice for House Speaker. As events Thursday show, he won’t be much more than a tool of the extreme right MAGA Republicans going forward, regardless of what happens to Trump himself.

In any case, hopes of rising to the level of leadership displayed by Nancy Pelosi are completely out of the realm of possibility for McCarthy. The Republican Party itself has clearly become a vehicle for the fascists in the U.S., and the fight to preserve democracy will have to continue.

As with all op-eds published by People’s World, this article reflects the opinions of its author.

---

CONTRIBUTOR

John Wojcik

John Wojcik is Editor-in-Chief of People's World. He joined the staff as Labor Editor in May 2007 after working as a union meat cutter in northern New Jersey. There, he served as a shop steward and a member of a UFCW contract negotiating committee. In the 1970s and '80s, he was a political action reporter for the Daily World, this newspaper's predecessor, and was active in electoral politics in Brooklyn, New York.