How to compound Republican Failure
Senate Republicans will enter minority status with the same leadership team in place as before. John Thune, John Barrasso, and Tom Cotton were all re-elected to their roles leading their party just one week after going from a 53-47 majority to facing a 55-45 or 56-44 minority and losing in red states such as Kansas, South Carolina, and Texas in the midterm elections.
Thus Thune will be the minority leader, John Barrasso minority whip, and Tom Cotton the conference chair.
Thune posted on X shortly after winning his bid to continue leading Republicans, saying in part, “I appreciated the opportunity to have an open, honest, and transparent conversation with my colleagues today, and I am honored to have their continued trust and support to lead the Senate Republican Conference.”
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Thune’s requiem
If he somehow prevails, he’ll be in no position to lead the party in any meaningful sense.
Some amazing events occurred in this year’s midterms. Every last county in the Republican strongholds of Texas and Ohio went blue. Other states that remained GOP for generations voted the Dems in. And, most astonishing of all, John Thune was transformed into a Republican.
At least, that’s the impression you’d get watching his recent comments on Fox. Thune is now a true believer. He always was. People just didn’t understand. He was just being subtle about it. Yeah, that’s right – subtle, that’s the word.
Thune is now deeply concerned with the 2028 presidential election. If the Democrats win that one, he tells us, it’s “game over.”
Of course, the question arises as to why he didn’t say this a week ago. Or six months ago. Or at any time prior to today.
His record as party leader can’t even be called “mixed.” With one exception, that being the Big Beautiful Bill, his entire tenure was devoted to one thing — undercutting Donald Trump. Not on behalf of the Democrats, but, it appears, on general principle. Over and above all, there’s the SAVE America Act, which he simply refused to bring to a vote. Then there’s his arranging for the Senate to remain technically in session in order to prevent the President from making recess appointments that the Democrats were stalling. (Maybe I’m wrong – maybe he is working with the Dems.) This is a legitimate ploy often used by presidents in the past, including Obama. No Republican ever shut him down that way. It only happened to Donald Trump.
Finally, there was his refusal – along with everyone else — to take 2020 election fraud seriously. It seems that he was convinced that his good friends across the aisle would never use the same tactics against him. Well, now he knows.
The problem with Thune is that he isn’t clear on how politics works. I know that’s a strange claim to make about somebody who has devoted most of his adult life to political activity, but it’s true. Take the SAVE America Act. Thune’s objection to bringing it up for a vote seems to have been that it would fail, so why bother? (He’s never actually given a clear answer on this.) But here’s how that actually works: you bring it up for a vote. You force the Dems to oppose it. You force them to speak against it, to go on record in public. Then, if they vote it down, you make them own it. You use the vote and their rhetoric against them. You make the Dems defend their actions. You have your candidates run on it, a tailor-made issue for the party. There are also other benefits, such as getting the voters in an uproar. Thune failed to do anything of the sort before the midterms.
It’s time for him to go. Mike Rogers, a class act, resigned right after the election. So what is Thune wanting for?
A number of his colleagues have come out opposing him – something you never see in the GOP. These include Mike Lee, John Kennedy, and Rick Scott. Clearly, if he somehow prevails, he’ll be in no position to lead the party in any meaningful sense. Trump put in a wartime consigliere – Stephen Miller. The GOP needs to do the same.
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Mercedes-Benz halts all further investment at German facilities
Mercedes-Benz announced on Thursday that it was halting all further investment at its German sites for the time being.
“The executive board has jointly decided to halt all further investments in German sites,” Mercedes board member Michael Schiebe said in a memo on the company’s intranet that was seen by the AFP news agency.
The company is also weighing plant closures, the memo added.
The announcement comes as the luxury German automaker faces increasing pressure from the works council and the IG Metall trade union.
What else did Mercedes-Benz say?
Mercedes-Benz is “forced to examine, in concrete and detailed terms, which sites in Germany we can still afford to maintain,” board of management member Britta Seeger said in an interview published on the company’s intranet.
“We all want to avoid plant closures at all costs,” she added. “Unfortunately, however, we must now pursue this option in more concrete terms.”
Shiebe, the company’s chief production officer, said the current cost structures meant it is not possible to invest in Germany.
German labor costs are sometimes five times higher than at plants in Eastern Europe, where administrative costs are also similarly much cheaper.
Schiebe had recently announced that two plants in Germany would have to close unless costs were reduced.
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