OPINION: Republican Senators Are Who We Thought They Were, Now What Can PA Do?

The Senate, specifically Republicans in the Senate are exactly who we thought they were.

Forty-three Republicans voted to give former president Donald Trump a pass for misinforming voters about the 2020 Elections, ginning them into a seditious froth, and pointing them at the Capital to possibly kill political rivals. They have made it clear that they’re more afraid of the former Reality Show Host In Chief and his White nationalist hoards than the vast majority of the American people.

I guess it makes sense in some way. I know that if I had a group of busted looking White dudes like the Proud Boys coming at me, I might consider running. Or grabbing my Louisville Slugger and channeling my inner Bryce Harper. Honestly, it depends on how many we’re talking about.

Now, raise your hand if you were at all surprised by what the Republicans did.

If your hand is raised, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

This is the second Trump impeachment that Senate Republicans have sat through. In both cases, folks chose to stick their fingers in their ears and blatantly ignore evidence.

During the impeachment trial the “bonus footage” of the January 6 insurrection premiered. Republicans were forced to watch Capital Police Officer Eugene Goodman keeping Sen. Mitt Romney from walking into the path of the mob. You’d think that was enough to sway Republicans?

Apparently it wasn’t. Only seven Republicans, including Romney, decided to hold Trump accountable. Most of those seven aren’t running for re-election, like Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, whose vote to impeach proved that even a broken clock is right twice a day.

In the end, 43 Republicans decided that the only time Blue Lives truly Matter is when Black Lives Matter protesters have taken to the streets demanding justice for the police shooting of an unarmed Black person. When they’re trying to put the kibosh on an armed White Nationalist insurrection fomented by the President, Blue Lives are expendable.

If I’m a police officer, I’m rethinking my life, unless I was one of the many police officers that participated in riot.

By the way, has anyone heard anything about Philadelphia Police Det. Jennifer Gugger or the seven SEPTA Police officers — including two detectives — that participated in the Jan. 6 festivities? We still paying them, or nah?

Donald Trump might try to get the White House back in 2024. A possibility entirely enabled by Republicans in power carrying his water to keep him safe. With an opportunity to fill a previously Republican Senate seat, Philadelphians have some thinking to do.

So far the only person to throw a hat in the ring for the seat is Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. He ran for the seat in the 2016 primary, but was bested by Katie McGinty, who then lost to Toomey in the general.

Can we talk about how the only two people who lost statewide races in Pennsylvania in 2016 were women? It wasn’t much better in 2020. It’s depressing to know that if given the choice between mediocre men and impressive women, Pennsylvania will go for mediocre men every time.

So the seat is basically, open.

Back in October, I interviewed Sen. Cory Booker when he came to Philly to stump for President Joe Biden. We talked a little bit about Toomey leaving the senate and the fact that this seat would be open.

What happened with the impeachment made me think about something Booker said. If the Democrats had picked up Senate seats in the 2010 and 2014 midterms, many of the 43 Republicans who enabled Trump wouldn’t have been there.

So when it comes to Congress, it might be time for Democrats to start, thinking like Republicans.

“The Republicans have been playing the long game. In just about every midterm election — 2010, 2014, 2016, every year but 2018 — they’ve been gaining seats in the Senate, and that’s something that’s unfortunate,” Booker said. “So, we have got to understand that this is a long game. We don’t just win one election, flip a switch and everything gets better. We have to win election, after election, after election and create the environment where we won’t just have Black Lives Matter as a call to the consciousness of this country. Black Lives Matter will be reflected in our laws.”

Senator Cory Booker

What are the odds that will happen?

If folks are tired of grifters, billionaires, and their enablers getting away with everything from starting a seditious riot to rigging the tax code, the long game might be the best game to play. Pennsylvania might just be the best place for folks to start playing. Just sayin.