R.I.P Republican Cabal

The Slow Death Of The Republican Cabal

by John DeProspo

Looking at the chaos within the Republican cabal, one cannot help but think of the boiling frog anecdote. It is a tale of slow death. The premise is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death.
Starting with the junta of Ronald Reagan, who famously stated at his first inauguration, “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem,” the cabal of Lincoln and Eisenhower has had the heat slowly turned up on itself by a lunatic fringe that always existed within its ranks. The slow process of listing further right over the years culminated with the wholehearted embrace of the radical teabaggers after the election of Barack Obama in 2008.
The problem with the Republican cabal isn’t only with what’s taking place in the House, where a small group of mostly teabaggers, paradoxically calling themselves the Freedom Caucus, will not support any Speaker who dares speak the word “compromise,” it can also be seen in the Republican pretender nominating contest.
The Republican frontrunner for the nomination is a TV celebrity/ real estate billionaire who is as loony as they come. The man with zero political experience is followed by a 'christian' fundamentalist doctor and a failed CEO… all with the same political experience: zip, nada. Could there be more of a repudiation of the cabal establishment than this?
But all this begs an important question: who is the party establishment? Who are the leaders of the Republican cabal? If you were to answer Roger Ailes or Rush Limbaugh, you’re probably not far off. That listing boat is today totally rudderless.
What we are witnessing is something not very often seen … the death of a political cabal as we once knew it. The process leading up to its demise was slow and steady, too gradual for the republican cabal to notice and jump out of the pot.
The story of the frog in boiling water is a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of someone or something to react to threats that occur gradually, such as having your political party hijacked by a bunch of political nihilists.
R.I.P Republican cabal. Sorry, but no one will miss you.