Which side are they on?

This is what happens when a party's platform consists of "Il Duce ha sempre ragione" ("The Leader is always right").  A cult of personality is not a program.  As disaster looms it's every rat for himself.

I've never understood that particular metaphor.  Rats are not stupid and they're not brilliant swimmers.  No way they would leave a sinking ship unless they could get into a lifeboat.  Which is why several prominent Republicans have already staked out places for themselves.  We already met two "moderate" governors who want to have a future on a national ticket.  Charlie Baker says he may not bother voting for president, as if it matters in Massachusetts.  Larry Hogan of Maryland proudly says he voted for Ronald Reagan.  I agree, a decomposing corpse is better than Trump, but is Zombie Reagan entitled to a third term?  If not, the governor may have wasted his vote.

Mitt Romney is counting on Joe Biden being a one-term president and would love to take another shot in 2024, so he's preening as the conscience of politics in general.  Both sides need to stop being so vitriolic and follow his country-first example; after all, he did vote for one of the articles of impeachment, knowing it could not affect the outcome and would only bring him some spittle-covered tweets.  Mitt's a uniter and a healer, if you ignore his contempt for 47 percent of us.

Ben Sasse (R-NE) also has harsh words for the leader he only voted for 87 percent of the time.   Did you know that Trump "regularly sells out our allies" and "kisses dictators' butts"?  Even more shockingly he's "flirted with White supremacists."  Flirted?  Oh, Ben, they've sent out invitations and are picking out a china pattern.  Trump moved on the Nazis like a bitch and they loved it!  Where have you been?  Worrying that supporting a "TV-obsessed narcissistic individual" would alienate women and young people?  Could be.  

Unlike the guys, who aren't up for re-election, Susan Collins is drowning in the rising blue tide.  Her opponent Sara Gideon is raising more money and out-polling her, and she is responding with the tactics of David Perdue and Lindsey Graham, implying that out-of-state (Jewish) money is pouring in and tying her to Chuck Schumer.   (Gideon is of Armenian and Indian ancestry; too bad she doesn't have an unpronounceable name like "Kamala.")   Collins has seldom deviated from the party line but says she just might refuse to support Judge Ofjesse Barrett for the Supreme Court.  Funny, she's had no problem voting to confirm 181 Trump-McConnell judges so far.   And she "regrets" her votes on impeachment because he hasn't learned his lesson after all, so disappointing.  Trump says she's "not worth the work!" and I won't argue.

John Cornyn (R-TX), also up for re-election, compared his relationship with Trump to an abusive marriage, "maybe like a lot of women who...think they're going to change their spouse, and that doesn't usually work out very well."  Which is why divorce was invented, but Cornyn would rather keep covering up the bruises and locking himself in the bathroom when the tweeting begins.  As Pascal said, the heart wants what it wants -- tax cuts, reactionary judges-for-life and no damn Meskins. 

Kim Kardashian says she knew she was risking her reputation by associating with Trump, but it was worth the occasional photo op/tongue bath to get clemency for deserving prisoners.  This is Kim Kardashian we're talking about, famous for no particular achievement, wife of unstable Kanye West, daughter of one of O.J. Simpson's lawyers.  I didn't know she had a reputation.  Also, doesn't it sound like she's positioning herself to advocate for people like Alice Marie Johnson in the next administration?  Like, next year?

Sometimes it's even hard to be sure which side Trump is on.  While still using Anthony Fauci in campaign ads despite his protests, he called the doctor "a disaster" because Americans are "tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots" who want to save them from death (over 220,000 as of today).  He barreled into Nevada to warn voters that Joe Biden will "listen to the scientists" -- the man's a monster.  (No, wait, that's Harris.)  Moreover, "Carson City will become a ghost town and the Christmas season will be cancelled."  Then the Savior of Christmas went to,  I swear I'm not making this up, the International Church of Las Vegas.  Like most of the flock, Trump didn't bother with a mask even though Nevada had clocked 960 new cases of covid the previous day; after all, he's immune.  (It wasn't his first choice, but visiting a successful casino always makes him sad.)  And then it was off to Arizona, where people love it when you slang off an astronaut and his wife who was disabled by a Second Amendment warrior.

George Stephanopoulos questioned RNC chair Ronna McDaniel about QAnon yesterday.  She wouldn't say she condemned it but she did say she dismissed it:  "It's a fringe group.  It's not part of our party."  Uncle Mitt does not agree, but she's probably not speaking to him either.  Families are coming apart everywhere you look -- Caroline Giuliani writes, "The only way to end this nightmare is to vote.  There is hope on the horizon, but we'll only grasp it if we elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris."  Ms. Giuliani must have been mortified to read that Dad took his bullshit Hunter Biden laptop story to the Murdoch Post because no reputable newspaper would touch it.  

Imagine thousands of other families like these.  Maybe Christmas really is cancelled.