GOP has Greene, but Dems have their own issues. Plus: A goal for new Amazon CEO; And stop lecturing the GOP about Trump.
By Gary Abernathy
Democrats should clean up their own ‘out there’ wing
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has made some crazy comments in the past, no doubt about it. But the focus by Democrats (and the media) on Greene is hypocritical considering the members of their own caucus whose over-the-top comments should ring alarm bells.
A prime example is Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who has called southern border migrant centers “concentration camps,” ripped border agents for allegedly injecting children with drugs, claimed the world will end in 12 years (10 now) due to climate change, said Amazon pays “starvation wages” when it actually pays a minimum of $15 an hour (and she contributed to losing 25,000 jobs in New York City after Amazon scrapped plans to build offices there on the heels of her remarks), and numerous other outrageous statements – not to mention that she and other Democrats actually support socialism as preferable to capitalism.
Before turning their attention to Republicans, Democrats should clean up their own part of the House by dealing with their own “out there” wing.
A delivery goal for the new Amazon CEO to tackle
With Jeff Bezos stepping down as CEO of Amazon, the company he founded, and turning the reins over to longtime lieutenant Andy Jassy, I want to know one thing – will delivery improve?
Case in point: One day last week I ordered two very obscure books at Amazon online at around 4 p.m. They didn’t arrive until 3 p.m. the next day. I find this kind of delay entirely unacceptable.
Hopefully, Mr. Jassy will find a way to do what Mr. Bezos could not – invent a teleporter to immediately materialize orders into customers’ hands within a few seconds. Let me know when that’s ready. Then I’ll be impressed.
Lectures to Republicans by Trump’s critics help nothing
From my latest in the Washington Post…
If Donald Trump’s critics really want the former president’s millions of supporters to disavow him, their best tactic would be to stop harping on it rather than providing a daily dose of “here are more reasons that Republicans are terrible for loving Trump.”
… But (Trump voters) must also acknowledge that Trump’s refusal to admit his election loss, and his reckless admonition to “show strength” in order to “stop the steal” just before an angry mob marched on our U.S. Capitol, are acts that no patriotic American can defend.
… If patriotism isn’t enough, there’s also a practical political reason for Republicans to let Trump go — to preserve his movement. Trumpism is a cause worth fighting for, but Trump’s endless personal detours and outrages hindered its success. Biden is working expediently to undo what Trump managed, in spite of himself, to accomplish, enacting policies and programs that are much more liberal than advertised (to no one’s real surprise). For Republicans, salvaging Trumpism depends on winning the House and Senate in 2022, then retaking the White House in 2024. They are goals well within reach, if Trump himself can be shunted aside.
Read the full column here. (Subscription may be required.)