The least they deserve

I have to give Republicans their due. They have succeeded where so many others have failed. I am now a true believer. I am now firmly convinced that hell exists.

It has to. You know the one I mean – the one in which evil people spend eternity with a red hot poker shoved up their ass.

This is what the Supreme Court of the United States looks like today. Yesterday evening the Handmaid chose Clarence Thomas (of all bloody people) to swear her in at a ceremony at the White House.

The only surprise of the deadly depressing day was Susan Collins voting against the confirmation. Lisa Murkowski, who said on the day that Ruth Bader Ginsberg died that it would be wrong to fill the vacancy before the election, toed the party line.

I’d never heard of Collins or Murkowski until February 2017 when they were the only two Republican senators who voted against the confirmation of Betsy Devos. And in July that year they were joined by John McCain in killing Mitch McConnell’s plan to overturn the Affordable Care Act. I had high hopes of both women.

Between then and yesterday Collins (who voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, while Murkowski voted against) had established such a reputation as a ditherer that she had her own segment in last week’s episode of Our Cartoon President.

 

So this virulent woman with her anti-choice, homophobic belief system is on the Supreme Court. (So rushed was her confirmation that the fact she’d once been on the board of a private school that would not hire gay teachers or admit the children of gay couples did not emerge until after the hearings had ended.)

Within days of next week’s election, she will be one of the judges ruling on whether or not the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. That’s right. Having failed to kill Obamacare in the legislative branch, the Republicans have turned to the judicial branch with a case claiming (more or less) that it is unconstitutional to attempt to provide US citizens with basic healthcare – something the citizens of every other western democracy take for granted.

Soon afterwards they will rule on a number of important cases (worth a read) some of which could have a chilling effect on voting rights and, if the Tangerine Wankmaggot gets his way, the court may even rule on the outcome of the election. (Thank you, Supreme Court for your 2000 ruling in Bush v Gore – which, oh, by the way, both Kavanaugh and Barrett, along with now Chief Justice John Roberts worked on for the Bush side. Apparently working successfully to overturn the will of the people has its perks.)

Meanwhile, with the prospect of the Handmaid joining the court, those shitheads Thomas and Alito soon began gleefully rubbing their hands together in anticipation of overturning the marriage rights of same sex couples.

There was an interesting article posted on Vox yesterday about the deeply flawed US electoral system that led to the Handmaid’s appointment to the highest court in the land. Again, worth a read, but if you don’t have time, here’s the basic point:

The first justice in American history to be nominated by a president who lost the popular vote, and confirmed by a bloc of senators who represent significantly less than half of the country, is Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first nominee. The second is Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s second nominee. The third is now Barrett. That’s half of the Supreme Court seats held by Republicans.

The system is so rigged that the notion of majority rules democracy is laughable. There is no dirty trick the Republicans won’t play to steal and stay in power. (Yes, Democratic state officials are also guilty of gerrymandering borders to their benefit, but blatant voter suppression is a strictly Republican game.)

Which is why I find myself desperately hoping that particular hell does exist. Red hot pokers eternally shoved up the asses of Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham and the rest of the enabling Republican senators and the Undemocratic state governors seems like the very least they deserve.  

Gawd ’elp the United States of America.