Like a bunch of parrots, Republican leaders are using the word "chaos" to describe President Biden's actions during his first 100 days in office. But it is the Republicans, themselves, to whom that label most aptly applies.
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“The border is in chaos, there’s a gas crisis, inflation crisis, our allies have been undermined, and trillions in new taxes have been proposed,” tweeted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX.) on Friday.
“It is a crisis. It’s chaos. It is a catastrophe,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY.) declared at a news conference about the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Biden Administration Creates Country of Chaos,” read an email distributed by the Iowa Republican Party.
Late in April, Sen. Lindsey Graham didn't use that word -- he probably hadn't received the RNC's memo yet -- but he might have.
"I think he’s been a very destabilizing president," Graham said. "And economically, he's throwing a wet blanket over the recovery, wanting to raise taxes in a large amount and regulate America basically out of business."
Typical political BS. It will never stop.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) earlier this month said he's 100 percent focused on stopping the Biden administration, apparently regardless of the consequences or what's at stake.
"One-hundred percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration," McConnell said, adding, "We're confronted with severe challenges from a new administration, and a narrow majority of Democrats in the House and a 50-50 Senate to turn America into a socialist country, and that's 100 percent of my focus."
But McConnell's comments came as the Republican Party was embroiled in its own chaos as the House of Representatives GOP ousted its third ranking leader, Rep. Liz Cheney, from her job as Conference Chair and replaced her with Trump acolyte Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY).
Cheney, of course, was dumped because of her outspoken refusal to parrot Donald Trump's false claims that he was defeated because of voter fraud in the November 2020 election and her consistent criticism of the twice impeached former president for those claims that helped incite the chaos of the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
The Washington Post's Matt Viser and Sean Sullivan wrote May 16 that "Republicans may be turning to the chaos message against Biden because other efforts to go after the president — accusing him of being a radical socialist or seizing on cultural issues, for example — have had a limited effect."
The tactic smacks of desperation, but it's one that seems to be gaining traction with at least some of the rank and file, such as the bartender who said to me on Friday, "It's a mess out there, and Uncle Joe is to blame."
He was referring to the gas station next door that was out of fuel because of the ransomware attack on the Colonial pipeline.
"How is Biden to blame for that?" I asked him.
"He tried to shut that pipeline down," he said. "He's a mess."
I reminded the bartender that Biden halted construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, not the Colonial pipeline. "Totally different pipeline," I said.
"Well, it's his fault," he replied, and then added that he opposed any effort to require people to show their vaccination cards because he actually didn't believe Covid 19 is real. "I've had hangovers worse than that," he said. Not sure if he was bragging, but then...
However, yesterday, deaths in the U.S. due to the pandemic crossed the 600,000 mark -- 600,174 to be exact.
Some hangover. And some might say that thousands of those deaths could have been avoided had it not been for the chaos of Trump's handling of the pandemic from the beginning.
So, if the Republicans are trying to brand Biden as the perpetrator of chaos, they should look within their own house. Then they'll understand what chaos really looks like.