Hump day open thread: The party of nihilism

Last night, the House joined the Senate in raising the debt ceiling through to early December.

Of course, only Democrats voted to do so. Every single House Republican voted to default on a debt which was racked up during the Trump regime.

One has to wonder what motivates Republicans? It's certainly not a desire to govern. They have no positive program. They want to give nothing, but only take away. And if they're not in power, they have every intention of tearing down and hampering the party in power.

The Republican Party exists solely to gain and maintain power. That's it's only guiding principle. Its only appeal is to a shrinking base which is the driver of party nihilism. This base foresees a civil war between it and the Godless by which it's surrounded. (No, I don't think a civil war is imminent. But that's the belief of much of the GOP base.) There's no point in governing, because the country as it exists now is illegitimate. Joining Democrats in doing the basics of governing is submitting oneself to a veritable Satanic power. Unless the power of government is in GOP hands, it is to be resisted and undermined, because any time government is in the hands of Democrats it is serving evil.

We are at the point in this melodrama where the health of the Republic truly lies in having a de facto one party state. It lies in voting for Democrats every election and making sure they maintain power. As we saw from 2017-2021, Republicans can no longer be trusted with power. These are not Ronald Reagan's Republicans, who were bad enough; I'd give my eyeteeth to have that party back. This is the Nazi party, but without even the pretense of pseudo-intellectualism. This is a party which abjures reason, science, and logic. It is a party which has fervently accepted superstition and conspiratorial thinking. It has ceased to be a political party, but is akin to something like the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group in Uganda. It is a cult, with an orange buffoon as its prophet.

I don't pretend to know exactly how all this will turn out. It's quite fine to be worried. But, at the end of the day, this country is getting better. It is becoming more liberal, more inclusive. We'll have setbacks, but the moral arc of the universe is clear.

Vote Democratic. Your life depends on it.

This is your open thread.