Well, we now know who will be the leader of the Louie Gohmert and Moe Brooks wing of the Republican Party. I should remind readers that Gohmert and Brooks are two members of Congress who actually believe Trump’s claims that he won the election. Their prior pursuit down Conspiracy Lane make them uniquely qualified to carry the President’s water at the counting of the electoral college votes on January 6th. But, their leader is a graduate of Stanford and Yale Law, and he clerked for Chief Justice Roberts. He is Missouri’s own, Josh Hawley, and as several Republican Senators have said, unlike the less intellectually gifted Gohmert and Brooks, Hawley knows better.

So, we are about to find out if there is any price to be paid by politicians who knowingly lie in an attempt to curry favor with the soon to be departed President and his base supporters. Already we see that some Hawley rivals are hedging their bets to see which way the wind is blowing on the 6th. Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul must be green with envy that they didn’t think of it first. Why is the saddest thing of all that Chuck Grassley, the 87-year-old Senator from Iowa, was asked how he will vote on accepting the electors under the Hawley motion and he said, “there is a lot to think about.” How pathetic is it when someone this senior with no other aspirations finds it difficult to say the obvious? The only thing to think about is when Trump is finally removed from the White House with his mendacious family and sycophants, we need to make sure a younger, healthier version of Trump doesn’t emerge. Surviving Trump’s presidency tested our country in ways we should not have to see again from politicians of either party. And before my Democratic friends get too smug, let’s remember we may have a Trump-like character lurking in the weeds, as well.

Let’s make this year the year we expunge this type of lunacy from political norms. Life may be a bit duller, but I, for one, will welcome it.

UPDATE!
It now appears the Hawley clown car set to arrive on January 6th has filled to overflowing. Ted Cruz, fearing that he might be eclipsed as the most odious of all senators has leapt into the fray. He is joined by such luminaries as Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and the ever-vigilant Tommy Tuberville of Alabama. Apparently, at least 11 senators are willing to have no shame in their obedience to the Trump base. I am sure that Tom Cotton and Rand Paul will be there in the end. This show will end badly because there is a real way to discern Republican senators for the first time in a while. Let’s see how they behave as the Alice in Wonderland Trump show exits stage right.