It’s hard to keep the name of Oliver Cromwell out of what is happening right now in America, as even today English History both loves him and hates him…depending on who you’re reading. Thomas Macauley and Thomas Carlyle admired him, while David Hume despised him. His being a self-righteous Puritan seemed to matter more to some Englishmen than what he’d done to save England. (I haven’t consulted Boris Johnson on Cromwell but note how much the British conservatives have deteriorated since Margaret Thatcher’s headed their Party for 15 years, and 11 years as Prime Minister, when she and Ronald Reagan did wonders in disemboweling the Evil Empire.)
In like manner Cromwell disemboweled the 46-year Stuart monarchy by beheading its king in 1649, after a civil war and long row with Parliament who didn’t want to stop the lucrative kick-backs they were getting from the king, thus earning the hatred of the aristocratic wing of Parliament as well. Finally, Cromwell ended what was called the “Long Parliament” by expelling most of the aristocrats, leaving only a few remaining members, all Protestant commoners, who agreed to order Charles I to be beheaded. Although Cromwell didn’t name it, this very small Parliament was remembered as the “Rump Parliament”.
Sure enough, after Cromwell died, Parliament re-invited the Stuarts, who started the whole spoils system back up again, with two more Stuart kings, lasting 30 years, until the Glorious Revolution in 1688 would invite “William & Mary” to pick up where Cromwell had left off. So, today Cromwell often goes unmentioned by many historians in his contributions to the Parliamentary democracy that defined English history the next three centuries.
In like manner, our own Congress has for at least 75 years taken on the imprimatur of that same type of parliament that Cromwell confronted. The Founders even anticipated this, writing in a remedy.) Enter Donald Trump, Stage Right, JIT. How “Just in Time” you will probably see revealed in coming weeks, possibly even in time to reverse the results of the 2020 election.
But that is a timing issue we cannot control. But I have provided a scenario, The Set-Up, as to how Donald Trump and his team can cause to the “Biden-in-name-only Administration” to have to hit the ground running.
This follow-up piece is designed to tell Republican at both federal and state levels what they can do to make sure that ground the “Biden-in-name-only Administration” hits is uneven, boggy terrain, for which they have no map. They were never good at having to fix broken things on the run, their bumbling attempt to steal the 2020 Trump landslide only their latest example.
But in the short haul there just may be a “Biden-in-name-only Administration”, believing it can pick up where Obama left off, by simply circumventing law and the Constitution with executive orders, and abetted by a feckless Republican Party who’s still living under a collegial blueprint written by FDR in 1936.
Nothing is certain now, except that once back in the saddle and once in charge the Democrats will move aggressively, whether as Bolsheviks with bullwhips, or cunning as Fu Manchu, hiding their authoritarianism behind a veil of fawning, courtly John Kerry’s, as Hitler tried in the 30s, and Xi is attempting now, and heavy handed as Stalin and Mao were able to do, is all that will remain to be seen. Even a 6-3 Supreme Court will be easy to circumvent, since, in Stalin’s words about the Pope, “it has no armies.”
The only constant in all those scenarios, from Stalin in 1932 or Mao and Xi since the 60s, has been that the “New York Times” will still be running interference, so expect anything.
Democrats have gotten this far by a combination of vote-stealing going back at least to 2012, but also the reliable and predictable glad-handing by an army of Republicans who had simply refused to allow themselves to believe the Democrats could ever be “that dark”, or in recent years, from Mitt Romney to Paul Ryan to (very sadly) even George W Bush, who had allowed a vision of a new world order, built on tons of money and a better management model, of which they would be a part, that they might be remembered in history’s rewrite more favorably.
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Maybe it is time for Republicans to make some public acknowledgement of this new state of affairs, especially the new state of affairs among the vast majority of Republican voters. Over 77 (honestly-earned) million now….which should impress even Mr Bush.
“Rump Parliament” came to mind as a good name for this sitting Republican Congress to start call themselves…now. BEFORE CHRISTMAS. They should call a Conclave, probably virtual but shown on Newsmax and OAN and any other friendly news network. Don’t expect it to be very large at first. Aim for 25%, but offer it to every member. And keep them on your mailing list.
State GOPs should be encouraged to do the same. It would be a great vehicle to publicly separate the Sasse’s from the Jordan’s and the Romney’s from the Cruz’s.
Then:
- A Statement or Proclamation should be prepared and signed by each signatory, a real signed copy stored somewhere, so that, in the spirit of John Hancock, if the Dem’s NKVD should want to know who of the Republican’s are against their new brand of government, they will know who you are. It will be your own “fortunes, lives, and sacred honor” you will be putting on the line. (This is not mere bravado, mind you. This is what scares Leftists most and coming from such an unexpected quarter, doubly so.)
- Then seal it with an oath.
3 . And the statement of anathema should be directed to the Democrats in power, wherever situated; not just the 7 states who cheated the most, but all the state delegations.
4. Let them know that while you are still legally-elected members of their body, you will no longer sit in the same room with them. You will vote virtually. But you will shut them out.
5. Deny them every common courtesy; eye contact, a smile, certainly not a handshake. Proper names only, mention rank only when required by the rules. No more “Nancy’s” or “Chuck’s” in private conversation. Better still, no more private convos. Place the Mark of Cain on their foreheads; the cold shoulder, the skunk eye, the thousand yard stare.
6. Invite to your conclave the “cheated’ not only from this recent election, but those in past elections. Consulting the states you will find several House members, not a few, making a Democratic Speaker of the House just as illegitimate as the President. For instance, Virginia has three cheated victims, and they joined the Texas lawsuit. One, Abigail Spanberger, got a 10-point boost after that midnight Dominion dump, to win re-election in red VA-7. She ran as a centrist Democrat to defend her fraud. But in 2018 she defeated Dave Bratt, a quick rising conservative of extraordinary skill and threat to the Democrats in 2018. That election was also stolen. Bratt has since taken an academic position at Liberty University but he should be invited to join the conclave as well. As should Matt Bevins in Kentucky, who the media noted that he was the sole Republican to lose any state office in Kentucky’s 2018 election, that it was because he was so unlikable. Andy Beshear (I knew his dad) stole that governorship, too. Invite Matt Bevin to the conclave. You can find dozens, even hundreds if you’ll look.
Finally, as things will be moving quickly on the White House front, possibly up to the day before Inauguration Day, pause around New Years Day and calibrate where you stand vis a vis the Democrats and your own Party, for if the President should prevail, as he well may, the surviving Democrats (some will be indicted and possibly hiding in Venezuela) will be gravely wounded and the Republican Party will once again be in charge, perhaps for another 30 years, if I understand my post-revolution history correctly.
But your Rump Congress signatories will be leading this new Party.
Let the surviving Democrats, or whatever new name those choose to go by, know this is how the new pecking order is likely to be for a long, long time. No more Mr Collegiality.
Actually, this is the best time to split the GOP between Rumps and non-Rumps because almost all the voters will be behind the Trump-Rumps for as long as you can keep them. They are yours to lose. There really is only one choice, the Trump Train or the tricycle, as you will see in short order.
