It is So ‘Disconcerting’ that We Have No Congress

Republicans refuse to do their jobs

News reports tell us that “ a growing number” of Republicans have “raised concerns” about Donald Trump’s unilaterally murdering suspected drug smugglers on the high seas. Meanwhile, a headline from The Hill announces: “GOP senators disconcerted by possible $230M Justice Department payout to Trump.”

There are so many things about which to be “disconcerted,” including unconscionable misuse of the military against Americans, brutal ICE raids, skyrocketing debt, corruption on a grand scale, and herky-jerky trade wars (complete with Trump’s temper tantrum over an ad accurately reminding us that Ronald Reagan opposed protectionism). One should further “raise concerns” that the Affordable Care Act premiums will “spike on average by 30 percent next year” for 17 million people, so that “along with the likely expiration of pandemic-era subsidies… millions of people will see their health insurance payments double or even triple in 2026,” as The Washington Post reports.

Photo by Joakim Honkasalo

If only these fretful Republicans belonged to some sort of governmental body that had the ability to limit or even stop these troublesome actions. One could image, say, a separate legislative body to check the executive, control spending, and vet unfit nominees. But they want no part of that.

“Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to put the House on an indefinite hiatus that is now stretching into its second month while the government is shut down is the latest in a series of moves he has made that have diminished the role of Congress and shrunken the speakership at a critical moment,” reports the New York Times. And Trump, in turn, recognizes he effectively is the speaker, as well as president. MAGA Republicans have happily consented to bulldozing the system of checks and balances with the same glee Trump has displayed leveling the East Wing—and with the same level of contempt for our democracy or its rules.

No one should find credible Republicans’ feigned angst over the unhinged machinations of an autocrat that they have refused to confront—or even complain about on the record. If Republicans were genuinely upset about the serial outrages (or at least more upset about those than incurring the wrath of the bully-in-chief), they would act like members of the legislative branch that the Constitution designed.

Many of Republicans’ professed “concerns” would subside if they, for example, come back to the Capitol to:

• Negotiate a compromise on the ACA subsidies.

• Pass a War Powers Act resolution and use the power of the purse to head off Trump’s unilateral war designs.

• Recapture the power of the purse, disallowing executive rescissions.

• Reclaim the tariff power and end the trade war that will cost global businesses $1.2T (mostly passed on to consumers).

• Conduct oversight hearings on the weaponization of the Justice Department (including bogus vindictive prosecutions of Trump enemies, cases that Americans by a wide margin think are unjustified).

• Hold Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt if she refuses to answer questions and continues to insult lawmakers.

• Launch an investigation into mismanagement of the Pentagon.

• Pass legislation that halts further White House desecration and bars spending any monies (private or public) on construction without congressional authorization. (Congress could also demand audit of the damage done and tally the cost to restore the historic White House. The next president can send the bill to Trump.)

• Bar any payment to Trump from the Justice Department until he leaves office.

• Start enforcing the Emoluments Clause, prohibiting foreigners’ gifts and “investments” in Trump businesses.

• Shutter ICE facilities unless and until the regime abides by the law to allow immediate access for oversight by lawmakers.

• Investigate Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s spending on two private jets and mismanagement of DHS.

• Release every scrap of paper concerning Jeffrey Epstein and those that participated in or enabled his rape of hundreds of children.

Well, you say, that will never happen. But all of it could happen under a Democratic Senate and House after the 2026 elections, should voters agree Republicans have failed spectacularly to do their jobs.

A properly functioning Congress, just as the Framers intended, could stop many of Trump’s tyrannical executive’s outrages.

Republicans’ brazen refusal to do their constitutionally assigned duties should compel voters to boot them out in 2026. Since they have shirked their duties and thereby enabled Trump’s corruption, malfeasance, and replete policy failures, what justification could there be to rehire them?

Perhaps if numbers such as $230M (Trump’s demand) or 3% (new inflation high) or $300M (cost of a garish ballroom) do not impress MAGA members of Congress, some others might:

• 9%: the generic poll advantage for Democrats (50-41) for the 2026 midterms according to the Quinnipiac Poll

• 15%: Congressional approval under the Gallup poll (and also the percentage by which Democrats have overperformed in 2025 races; if you are wondering, more than 40 Republicans won their races by 15% or less in 2024).

• 25%: Trump approval among Hispanic voters in the recent Associated Press-NORC-poll. (Republicans might have unwisely banked on high Hispanic support in Trump’s re-redistricting gambit.)

Put simply, if MAGA lawmakers are not moved by their oaths of office or the health and security of the American people, perhaps the prospect of a blue wave in 2026 will jolt them from their slumber. If Democrats perform strongly next week in elections in New Jersey, Virginia, Pennsylvania (state supreme court), and California (Prop. 50), Republicans might become “disconcerted” enough to take up their constitutional obligations.