Political Theater Doesn't Help Anybody
House Speaker Chris Welch. (Photo: State Journal-Register)
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OPINION
There’s nothing like pointless political theater in the Illinois House of Representatives.
As one may expect, the fervor over drama at the federal level bled onto the floor of the House this week, and nobody is better off for it.
It started with a series of speeches from Freedom Club members like Rep. Chris Miller (R-Hindsboro), quite possibly the least serious member in all of Springfield, and that’s really saying something.
Miller repeatedly praised the Trump administration for its controversial actions and clearly intended to poke the bear of the Democratic supermajority.
And poke he did.
Wednesday, Democrats decided to respond by introducing a handful of strongly worded resolutions (that have no force of law, mind you) to complain to into the ether about what the new White House is doing.
The resolutions attacked everything from Trump’s inexcusable pardon of violent January 6 rioters to criticizing his tariff plans.
They’re nothing the General Assembly has jurisdiction over, but Democrats were still happy to take the opportunity to put 7-8 potentially vulnerable suburban Republicans on the record supporting Donald Trump ahead of next year’s election.
Republicans staged a walkout in response to the resolutions, mostly to save those vulnerable members from having to go on the record with a vote that will either piss off their base or hurt them in a general election.
The real silliness came a few moments later when the House GOP staged a press conference in response to the resolutions acting as the victims in the whole situation.
“Why are they so worried about what the super minority was saying on the other side,” House Republican Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savana) asked, completely oblivious that the guy who brought the response from the Democrats, Miller, was literally standing next to her.
That’s not to say Democrats are some beacons of virtue here. House Speaker Chris Welch gave an overexaggerated floor speech following the votes blasting Republicans for walking out.
“They should be here to speak out against fascism. We cannot be silent. We must rise up. Speak up, speak out. We cannot walk out on the people that sent us here,” Welch said, hitting a crescendo. “Members, this is not a time to be silent. This is not a time to walk out on your job. This is not a time to walk out on the people who sent you here.”
Republicans, of course, snapped back at Welch, calling his comments “unhinged.”
The problem here is this theater literally took hours off our lives and what exactly did it accomplish?
Nothing.
Chris Miller knew he was going to get retaliation from the left.
The left knew it was going to make the environment in Springfield even more toxic.
Great job, guys.
When do the grown ups show up?
