Three Men and a Baby

Twenty nine years ago this month the movie “Three Men and a Baby” starring Tom Selleck, Ted Danson, and Steve Guttenburg came out. It was the story of three bachelors forced to take care of a baby girl after one of their girlfriends left the child at their front door. One of them had become a father without knowing it. So, three totally unprepared men were faced with caring for a baby that changes their lives. It was a big hit, grossing over $167 million dollars. Flash forward to this week, and the plot seems to playing out for real. Republicans Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee John McCain woke up Wednesday morning to find Donald Trump on their doorstep. Ah! Oh! now what?

These are the three leaders of the Republican Party that didn’t have the political courage to stand up to a bully. Ryan waffled on endorsing Trump. He said he had to think about it. Then he called Trump a racist for remarks Trump made about a federal judge of Mexican descent who was presiding over a case in which Trump was being sued. Ryan later ripped Trump for his remarks about sexually assaulting women. Ryan said he wouldn’t endorse Trump, and wouldn’t campaign with, or for him. He said he was going to concentrate on making sure Republicans maintained control of the House. Of course, he still voted for Trump. The day after the election he came out all smiles, and talked about the “mandate” Trump won, even though Trump lost the popular vote. Ryan praised Trump for the political feat he pulled off, and gushed about how he can’t wait to work with him.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell got to the point of refusing to even answer questions about Trump, or speak his name. He acted like a child who thinks if you don’t talk about something, or look at something that frightens you, it will go away. McConnell must be feeling proud of himself for ignoring his constitutional duty by refusing to even have a hearing for President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. Even though, given the Republican majority in the Senate, Garland’s nomination would likely have been rejected.  I’m sure McConnell is happy about his partisan plan of allowing the voters to pick the next president so that person could nominate a new justice to replace conservative Antonin Scalia. Well, he got his man.

Eighty year old Senator John McCain, who just won re-election, was the butt of another of Trump’s infamous quotes. Speaking about McCain’s five years in a North Vietnamese prison after being shot down and badly injured, Trump said, “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” McCain was tortured, and spent two years in solitary confinement. McCain also blasted Trump for his various outrageous remarks. But, as brave as McCain was for standing up to his captors, he failed to show real political courage, and stand up to Trump who favors the torture of captured terror suspects. McCain is chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He has been very critical of President Obama’s policies in Syria and Iraq. Let’s see how he handles Trump who says he knows more about ISIS than the generals, and wants to bomb the sh– out of them.

Donald Trump has destroyed the Republican Party these three men believe in. They created the monster, and now they just found him at their front door as the next president. While they would never admit it publically, these guys can’t stand Trump. Trump is in the driver’s seat now. He knows these guys wouldn’t stand up to him when he was running for president. Just think of what he’ll try now. Fortunately, we do have a system of checks and balances. Many of the ridiculous proposals Trump has come up with may never come about. But some will. Trump could potentially nominate two or three additional Supreme Court justices, in addition to replacing Scalia. This could change the court for a generation. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 83. Stephen Breyer is 78. Anthony Kennedy is 80. Although Ginsberg said she’s not going anywhere. But she is 83, and has battled cancer. Ryan is ready to send legislation to Trump to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The plan does need some fixing, but ripping it up and denying 20 million people health insurance feeds into the “shoot from the hip” mentality of Trump.

Ryan, McConnell, and McCain now have what they want, and what many thought wouldn’t happen, Republican control of the White House and congress. They have said this will break the gridlock. The pressure is on, and it’s greater then it’s ever been in their political lives. Millions of Americans have been screaming for change. They’ve elected someone millions think is not only unqualified, but dangerous. These three men now have the responsibility for that baby on the doorstep who can change their lives, and ours.