Are They Finally Tired of Playing Nice? Senate GOP Says They Will Block Biden Nominees Over Trump Lawfare

For the last year, Americans have watched as Donald Trump has garnered four indictments in four Democrat-friendly districts, amassing roughly 91 felony charges. It is an overt display of a weaponized Department of Justice the likes of which this country has never seen. As President Joe Biden looks increasingly weak and cognitively impaired, Democrats know they are in trouble in November, and lawfare has seemed their only way to hang onto power for dear life. But it appears that Senate Republicans may have had just about enough and are tired of playing nice.

On Thursday, a group of GOP Senators led by Sen. J.D. Vance, which also includes Sens. (R-OH), Mike Lee (R-UT), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Eric Schmitt (R-MO), announced they would put a hold policy on several of President Biden's nominees in response to the ongoing "radical lawfare" against Donald Trump. In addition to various judicial nominees, there are also the pending nominations of deputy undersecretary of the Treasury and general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

The Senators' announcement also stated that the nominees in question would apply to those who “supported lawfare or censorship” of Trump, “suggested the Trump prosecutions were reasonable,” or endorsed Trump’s guilt. some of the nominees include Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) to represent the U.S. at the U.N. General Assembly, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's nomination to represent the U.S. on the World Health Organization Board, and former Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) to represent the U.S. on the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization. While the nominations are relatively minor, they will force Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to use valuable Senate floor time on things like judicial nominations, leaving the others to languish or not be confirmed at all. The group says the stall will last through the election.

In a mammoth display of self-unawareness, many on the left are now worried that, should Trump be reelected, he will be out for revenge and subject them to the same treatment they have been perfectly fine with for him. But in a recent interview on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends," Trump stated, "My revenge will be success." But would a little revenge served up nice and cold to Democrats and others who have thrown in with them be such a bad thing?

John Yoo is a UC-Berkeley Law Professor and served in the George W. Bush administration. In a recent essay in "National Review," he argued for just such a dose of karma for Democrats. Yoo states the obvious: that the Democrats' perversion of the American legal system has greatly damaged the office of the president. He gives a few examples of how Republicans could be justified in turning the tables on Democrats.

"A state DA in upstate New York, for example, could prosecute former president Barack Obama for murder for having ordered a drone strike on al-Qaeda leaders that included an American from Buffalo. A California DA could prosecute George W. Bush for kidnapping a San Francisco resident who was captured by American forces while fighting for the Taliban."

Yoo argues that some tit-for-tat would shore up the independence of the executive branch but also believes that Republicans could "repair the rule of law" with the idea that "like cases should be treated alike." Yoo adds that "we must rely on Republicans to threaten an escalation of banana-republic politics in order to prevent actually becoming a banana republic."

Even though Donald Trump recently told Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity, "It (political prosecutions) has to stop because otherwise, we're not going to have a country," could the actions of Senate Republicans finally light a fire under other Republicans, and prompt them to realize that being nice hasn't gotten them anywhere? Here's to the hope that there will be more welcome instances where Republicans stand up and say they are mad as hell and they're not gonna take it anymore.