comment: >
  
  I hope you’re right, but I feel like I have heard “this is the GOPs final grasp at relevance” every election cycle of my entire life.
context: Beginning? That's been the goal for decades. >
  
  Newt Gingrich doesn't get the recognition he deserves. >
  
  Infamy would be more appropriate. >
  
  People confuse that with renowned. >
  
  “The impasse has ground all congressional business to a halt”
  Remember, when Trump was elected Steve Bannon said their goal was deconstruction of the administrative state. The republican party has long been the party of obstruction and deregulation. They would love to get rid of every federal agency and privatize to put more money in the pockets of corporations. 
  The message provided by conservatives that somehow churches and nonprofits will fill the gap is laughable. 
  If you have ever worked for a nonprofit, you know what it takes to raise funds to just support the mission. Non-profits and churches are not able to take on the load that would be required to fill the gap.  
  I remember laughing when I heard a Republican woman come forward after Roe v. Wade was overturned. The reporter asked her, Now that Republicans have overturned Roe v. Wade, what is the plan to help women and families with social services, family leave and childcare? This Republican woman’s response was, of course, that churches will step in and help.  
  But just like Republicans said, “Repeal and Replace” for years, while railing against Obamacare, there is no plan other than more money in the pockets of the rich and in the pockets of shareholders and corporations. >
  
  Ask the Irish how good churches are at stepping in to help.  What a joke. >
  
  The beginning was when they tried to murder some members and the VP. >
  
  The beginning was in the 1950’s when they embraced anti-Semitic / anti-Black policies and messaging from the KKK, through the 60’, 70’s, and 80’s of the Southern Strategy, the Reagan years, and making crack cocaine & marijuana felonies while powder cocaine & opioid pills are like a slap on the wrist. 
  Trump isn’t even the first time they’ve been brazen about it - Watergate, anyone?
  This is their last tenuous clawhold of relevance and power; they know it’s over and won’t yield a single bit, even if it destroys everything, because after this, Democratic candidates will campaign for a generation on how the Republicans tried to overthrow the government