“What say the augurers?” The GOP is the beast that has no spine…
CAESAR
What say the augurers?
SERVANT
They would not have you to stir forth today. Plucking the entrails of an offering forth, They could not find a heart within the beast.
Most are familiar with these lines from Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar:
Caesar: “Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once.”
It was required reading in most high school lit classes- in our schools, it was a sophomore requirement. Examples of self-serving cowardice are rampant in our current politics, I have used the word coward in several diaries to describe the spineless epidemic within the Republican Party. This week, diaries are replete with references to the Cowardly Turtle, Mitch McConnell, who endorsed Donald Trump with the flimsiest of excuses and the most curious of rationales- he forgives his surrender to Trump’s personal attacks on his wife while excusing the former president’s criminal behavior based on inevitability:
“It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for President of the United States, It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.”
- McConnell, March 6
McConnell’s statement reads more like a simple denial of responsibility- a washing of hands comparable to other historical figures who succumbed to inevitability, a modern Pontius Pilate or Marshal Philippe Pétain. McConnell has bartered his dignity and a chance of redemption for his prior support of the twice-impeached and currently indicted grifter for pennies on the dollar. We all remember Trump’s racist attacks on Elaine Chao, calling her “Coco Chao” and “his China-loving wife.” Chao shot back with a stinging rebuke of her own:
“When I was young, some people deliberately misspelled or mispronounced my name. Asian Americans have worked hard to change that experience for the next generation. He doesn’t seem to understand that, which says a whole lot more about him than it will ever say about Asian Americans.”
Her husband mumbles faint praise and endorses the heartless goon.
Caesar responds to his servant who tells the Roman Dictator of the priests’ findings of a beast without a heart:
CAESAR
The gods do this in shame of cowardice. Caesar should be a beast without a heart If he should stay at home today for fear. No, Caesar shall not. Danger knows full well That Caesar is more dangerous than he. We are two lions littered in one day, And I the elder and more terrible. And Caesar shall go forth.
- Julius Caesar, Act 2, sc. ii
The Turtle has proved he is no lion! It is fair to infer that McConnell’s endorsement is for public consumption only and that he may privately try to undermine his party nominee. That would be a politically nuanced move that would further McConnell’s power goal of regaining the Senate for Republicans. He would rather be a backstabber than a hero. McConnell is old enough to know that the nation requires heroes in this moment. Clearly, he is not one and the Republican biosphere is sorely bankrupt in that regard. A McConnell non-endorsement would be welcome in these dark political times — and a full-out repudiation of Trump’s candidacy would be cause to update “Profiles in Courage.” Still, the minority leader is cynically impoverished and incapable of anything but self-service- of party loyalty, even if it proves to be a betrayal to the nation.
Instead, the job of saving the union is left to others. It will be required of many to reassess our political affiliations. For Republicans of conscience, the realization that Donald Trump isn’t worthy of their vote, much less their admiration and loyalty would help. For Democrats and Independent voters- the rest of us- there must be a commitment to resist discounting a Biden second term as a retirement gift for their elderly nominee. He needs no rewards, no parting gifts. Biden has earned our vote and admiration because he has done the work. His is the most impactful term in office since FDR and LBJ. The headwinds he has struggled against given the maniacal adoration of Trump by his MAGA followers, the recalcitrant House of Representatives, and the divided Senate have tested his leadership like no other Congress since Roosevelt’s era. Both FDR and Biden have served in perhaps the most difficult times in this nation since the Civil War.
If I were to compare the two, each has limitations and neither is perfect, but they share a quality that binds them even though their lives and political arcs have been so different. Roosevelt, the patrician, and Biden, the 81-year-old share personal tragedies that transcend any political triumph, both took on the presidency in trying times. Neither one needed the presidency as much as the nation needed their particular leadership skills. Both men, in many waysbloodied but unbowed, exhibit a quiet heroism a cowardly McConnell could never hope to achieve. Instead of shirking their responsibilities, they have embraced them without fear. In words the Bard had given to his erstwhile hero as he chooses to go out and face his fate,
“… We are two lions littered in one day, And I the elder and more terrible. And Caesar shall go forth..”
Despite the cowardly McConnell and his shameful party that cowers before their race-baiting and criminally indicted nominee, Biden will go forth, he will face his fate.
Donald Trump faces his as well knowing those whom he counts on to have his back have no spine.
Originally published at https://www.dailykos.com on March 7, 2024.
