Watching the line-up for Merrick Garland's confirmation votes on his nomination, I realized something today about politics in Congress.  All Democrat politicians, whether famous or unknown, can reliably be counted on to vote a straight Democrat party ticket.  Meanwhile, many Republican politicians, whether famous or unknown, can also be reliably counted on to vote a straight Democrat party ticket.

Merrick Garland is Biden's nominee for attorney general.  Although presented as a "moderate," he is anything but.

During the Senate hearings on Garland's nomination, America learned that:

• He believes that domestic terrorism occurs only during the daytime (i.e., the events on January 6) and never at night (e.g., Antifa's month's long nighttime attacks on federal property in Portland).
• He defines the events on January 6 as a White Supremacist attack and vows to devote his energy to targeting "white supremacists and others" — which means joining in Pelosi's and the FBI's witch hunt against any conservatives in D.C. on that day to hearing Trump give a perfectly normal political speech.
• He won't promise to protect John Durham's investigation.
• He seems to think there was a hitherto unknown bombing on Capitol Hill (if one doesn't count the leftist bombing at the Capitol in 1983).
• He's all in on the existence of alleged "systemic racism."
• He claims never to have thought about whether it should be a crime to cross into America illegally.

This is a man whom Republicans should oppose.  Certainly, if the shoe were on the other foot, the Democrats would oppose him en masse.

The reality is that, because Kamala Harris can break a tie, Garland will get confirmed regardless of Republican actions — but at least the Republicans could make a principled stand.  The problem is that "Republicans" and "principled stand" are not words often paired in a single sentence.

According to a report in the New York Post:

Judge Merrick Garland will head into next week's confirmation vote on his nomination to be attorney general with considerable support from Republicans, despite evading key questions pertinent to conservatives' concerns.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on Garland's nomination to lead the Justice Department on Monday, where he is expected to cruise through with the support of multiple Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has repeatedly told reporters since Garland's Tuesday testimony that he is leaning toward voting to confirm, though he has stressed that he doesn't "want to make a final decision."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the No. 2 Republican on the committee, said Tuesday he was "very inclined" to back Garland's confirmation given his "very deep understanding of the threats America faces."

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tx.), a member of GOP leadership who serves on the panel, has backed Garland since he was tapped by President Biden for the post.

[snip]

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who also sits on the powerful panel, said in a statement Tuesday that he would join his fellow GOP committee members in backing Biden's AG pick.

I've written before about the schism in the Republican Party, one that sees Trump's pro-American agenda outside Washington, D.C. versus Mitch McConnell's and Liz Cheney's pro-internationalism agenda inside Washington, D.C.  The latter view means that McConnell and Cheney, and others in their camp, are more interested in aligning with Democrat and Chinese interests than they are with protecting Americans.

Moreover, the anti-American wing of the Republican Party is open about this.  Watch this video of House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Liz Cheney as she tries to boot Trump from the Republican Party:

Writing at The Conservative Treehouse, Sundance rightly says:

Thus the ridiculous position of the Republican party is on display.  Keep in mind the party caucus recently agreed to keep Liz Cheney in her leadership role after she voted to impeach President Trump.  Her remarks today were intentionally antagonistic and intentionally public.  She is sneering in the face of 80,000,000 voters and laughing while she does it.  Ms. Cheney could have chosen to say nothing… but she made a choice.

The DeceptiCon wing of the party feels emboldened by the lack of the MAGA contingent to push back forcefully against them.   There are times when it becomes necessary to separate from bad people and unfortunately the Republican party does not seem capable of getting rid of the conniving corrupt internal elements. 

As long as voters keep sending the same anti-American, pro-Chinese incumbents back to D.C., we'll get the same outcome: a congressional uniparty that is entirely Democrat in its policies.  If we want a federal government that works for America, rather than for transnational elitists and the Chinese government, it's up to conservative voters to make a difference within their states.  Change doesn't start in D.C.; change there is the final step, not the first step.

Image: Merrick Garland.  YouTube screen grab.