Republicans are going to the extreme to brown-nose Trump in 'sycophancy stakes': analysis

22 February

Anna Paulina Luna speaking in Phoenix, Arizona in December 2022

During his first presidency, Donald Trump often clashed with the more traditional conservatives in his administration — from former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to former White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly. And some ex-Trump Administration officials voiced their support for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, including former and Trump White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham and former Mike Pence national security aide Olivia Troye.

But Trump's second presidency is turning out to be much different, and many of his appointees are staunch MAGA loyalists — from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to FBI Director Kash Patel. And devotion to Trump is equally obvious in both branches of Congress.

The Guardian's David Smith, in an article published on February 22, highlights the extreme proposals that GOP lawmakers are making to express that devotion.

"If proof were needed that Donald Trump's cult of personality has never been stronger," Smith observes, "it comes in the inventive ways Republican members of Congress have spent his first month in office trying to lionize him. Welcome to the sycophancy stakes. On 23 January, the congressman Addison McDowell of North Carolina introduced legislation to rename Washington Dulles International Airport as Donald J. Trump International Airport…. Not to be outdone, on the same day, the Tennessee congressman Andy Ogles proposed a House of Representatives joint resolution to amend the constitution so that a president can serve up to three terms — provided that they did not serve two consecutive terms before running for a third."

GOP lawmakers, Smith laments, are going to ridiculous lengths to express their allegiance to Trump.

"On 28 January," the journalist observes, "Anna Paulina Luna, a congresswoman from Florida, put forward legislation to arrange the carving of Trump's face on the Mount Rushmore national memorial in South Dakota…. On 14 February, the New York Congresswoman Claudia Tenney introduced legislation to officially designate 14 June as a federal holiday to commemorate Trump's birthday, along with the date in 1777 when the U.S. approved the design for its first national flag."

According to Smith, these "unsubtle exercises in ring-kissing and genuflection demonstrate that" Trump's "control over the Republican Party is now all but absolute."

Kurt Bardella, an ex-Republican turned Democratic strategist, argues that the United States rejected the British monarchy on July 4, 1776 only to treat Trump like a monarch.

Bardella told The Guardian, "We've gone from 'Make America Great Again' to make 'America Great Britain Again.' You might as well have an image of Donald Trump staring at a portrait of King George and then turning around and putting a crown on his head, a robe around his suit and a scepter in his hand."

Read David Smith's full article for The Guardian at this link.

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