A Ballroom Too Far: Republicans’ Procedural Blunders

Over the past week, the Trump Administration celebrated the completion of its trifecta of retribution against dissident Republicans, defeating Rep. Tom Massey (R-Ky.) in his primary after previously doing the same to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and a group of Indiana state senators opposed to mid-decade partisan redistricting. Yet rather than having grounds to celebrate, Republicans ended the week in disarray. Much of this is the toll of accumulated public discontent over the economy, the war in Iran, a violent anti-immigrant campaign, and a host of other self-aggrandizing actions seeming disconnected from the nation’s genuine problems. Congressional procedure, however, played its role. This post explains how Republicans’ “strong” moves have landed them in such a mess. The epidemic of violence by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Boarder Protection (CBP), and cooperating agencies led Democrats to demand restrictions on those agencies’ actions in the Homeland…