It is the eve of the simple majority vote in the U.S. Senate for Neil Gorsuch as the definite swing vote in a SCOTUS that has the power now to enact major planks of the conservative agenda for doing America in. A light is going on. It is the light that tells independents, democrats, and progressives that the hour of reckoning is now. But what they may not realize is that their anger alone will not be the only force that begins to roll forward. If you hear a cracking noise, it is the GOP splitting in two.
GOP failure
The GOP has spent decades failing to govern these United States.
Their shopworn and repetitive agenda has not caught on. Now we are on the eve of the moment when the GOP in lockstep becomes like the House of Representatives, a place where a simple majority rules. It is not what the founders intended. As GOP senators wake from their hypnotic sleep, some of them may become the chrysalis of a successor party that has had enough.
The coming split
The split will come because the chances of the current GOP keeping its majority in The Senate are slim to none. Tomorrow's vote will herald the end of the GOP as we know it. The billionaires and oil and car interests will see tomorrow's vote as their biggest and best victory. The Freedom Caucus will have a celebration.
Then the truth will begin to appear. They will be seen as the Right Wing Party, the one percent party.
Moving from no to yes
The new GOP will move from being the party of no to one whose conservatism is untainted by capitulation to special interests. Call it the Grand New Party. It will practice true politics which is the art of the possible.
It will be a check on unrealities from the left. The Democrats will not split.
Why will this come to pass?
This GOP-split scenario will result from the need to invoke the nuclear option to pass anything Trump sends to the Hill. The only thing that can intervene is the caving in of Democrats. Trump has already talked of mixing up in bills so popular things will force Democrats to accept bad things.
The answer should be no. It is a short time until 2018.
Senate Republicans Deploy ‘Nuclear Option’ to Clear Path for Gorsuch https://t.co/fLtm4chhmG
— Stephen C. Rose (@stephencrose) April 7, 2017
What could make this whole thing academic?
The only thing that would derail this scenario would be the failure of the Gorsuch ploy. If the GOP majority is shaved by a few votes, the momentum would be on the side of those who stood up and said no to the Federalist Society, the Mercer foundation and the rest of the right wing. The split would still come but the bitterness of the Gorsuch matter would not remain to poison things over time. But the possibility is more than unlikely.
