Shut up and click "donate"

 The gist of the Supreme Court's notorious Citizens United decision, as I understand it, is that corporations are entitled to the same Constitutional protections as people, especially the right to donate staggering amounts of money to political causes.  They may also express opinions as long as they coincide with those of the far right.  Goya Foods and MyPillow are patriots; Delta and Coca-Cola, not so much

So said Mitch McConnell in support of vote suppression in Georgia.  But that was yesterday, and on consideration he no longer considers it "stupid" to oppose the racists on this matter.  He shifted to "don't become a vehicle for far-Left mobs" and then to "I didn't say that very artfully.  They are certainly entitled to be in politics."  Well, shit, thanks.  Even Major League Baseball, for which the Idiot Twins Cruz & Lee have pledged to end the antitrust exemption?  Big guns, rolling out.  

Mitch doesn't see very well despite what we used to call "Coke-bottle glasses" (now Royal Crown, I guess).  Everyone else saw the picture of Trump sneaking Diet Coke in his "office," because he's too old to fight the addiction.  (He could have had a servant decant the stuff into a Pepsi bottle but he's paranoid about drinking spit.)  The Texas Rangers are playing games as if nothing happened despite Greg Abbott's refusal to toss a ball to their catcher.   Between the spring chill and the covid pandemic it's impossible to tell how many Trumpanzees are depriving other ballparks of their presence.  Here's what Mitch should be focusing on:  Jeff Bezos says he supports increasing corporate taxes to pay for the Biden infrastructure proposals.  When he was CEO, Amazon paid as little as possible, so it could be just for show.  Still, Mitch should worry that "Republicanism = corporatism" may be cracking at the edges.

Corporations go where the customers are:  "More Americans identify as Democrats than Republicans by a margin that hasn't been seen in a decade," says the Gallup Poll, and before McConnell takes all the credit he should thank El Caudillo del Mar a Lago (thanks, Charlie), who could bring disrepute on Santa Claus's workshop.  But it's a group effort, with Matt Gaetz constituting a whole DNC recruitment drive by himself; Tom Cotton, who has decided there aren't enough Americans in prison (could he possibly mean Black Americans?); Lauren Boebert and the other gunslingers; and the unprecedented coup attempt of January 6.  Wait till those trials start.  

Charlie Pierce calls it "The Triumph of the Craziarchy," and it encompasses the new corporate wariness, the inability of top Trumpers to find new positions, and the Republicans' own weekly Night of the Long Knives.  The "censoring" of members who deviate even a little from the party line, even civilians like Cindy McCain, is fun to watch.  Who can resist the story of John Boehner recording the audio version of his memoirs and breaking off to rage about Ted Cruz?  ("Nobody in the Senate likes Ted Cruz as much as I do and I hate Ted Cruz," Al Franken wrote.)  Or Trump complaining that Georgia's vote-suppression law doesn't go far enough?  

Fact is, most people like Joe Biden and what he's done already and is attempting to do.  The stock market likes him.  Unions like him -- they're feeling encouraged for the first time in decades.   People are starting to think we could get past this pandemic and recover normal life, whatever that is.  I haven't written about the trial of Derek Chauvin because it's alternately too painful and too enraging to watch, but you know what?  The President of the United States has not tweeted a single opinion about it.  That wouldn't be right.  (Remember when Nixon pronounced Charles Manson guilty in mid-trial?)  Slowly people are getting used to a president who just...behaves...decently.  It's been a long time.