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Somehow, after everything, there remain creatures in Washington, D.C. obsessed with bipartisan compromise. One of our two major political parties has lined up in opposition to renewing what's left of the Voting Rights Act, which swept through Congress on a strong bipartisan basis in the Bush years, when it actually still had some teeth. The same party's Arizona affiliate is engaged in a circus "audit" of that state's election results because they didn't like who won. They've also responded to the 2020 election, which many Republicans continue to Just Ask Questions about, by passing hundreds of restrictive voter laws in state legislatures across the country. Through this and gerrymandering and court-packing and the undemocratic features of the Senate and the Electoral College, the party has devoted itself, root and branch, to clinging to power without crafting an agenda that actually appeals to a majority of citizens.

But even beyond any of that, they just submarined their own shared Bipartisan Bill to establish a commission to look into an attack on their own place of work earlier this year. If a mob broke into your company's offices and ransacked the place, chanting that they wanted to hang the vice president of the firm, would the VP's putative friendsand brother!shut down an inquiry into what happened? This is not normal behavior, and it's not the behavior of an organization whose members can be reasoned with. (As David Freedlander pointed out, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy used to back a Commission as a desperate escape from impeaching Donald Trump for his crimes against the republic. Now he's against this, too. It's almost like he's not actually interested in any kind of accountability.) There will be no Bipartisan Compromise so long as the Republican Party clings to the increasingly kaleidoscopic fever dreams blasting out of the right-wing infotainment vortex. As my colleague, Charles P. Pierce, wrote, the Democrats will need to go it alone on a January 6 commission. In truth, they'll have to go it alone on everything.

Drew AngererGetty Images

This ought to have been obvious before. In the Senate, Mitch McConnell has proven to be the most cynical operator that Washington, D.C. has seen in some time, and that's saying something. McCarthy, in the House, is as craven as he is dense. And the party has a track record, going back to the Obama years, of demanding bipartisan consultation, extracting concessions and watering down bills, then voting against them anyway. This is what happened with the January 6 commission: Republicans got pretty much everything they wanted, and they still shut it down. They will do the same with the American Jobs Plan. As Catherine Rampell brilliantly laid out in the Washington Post, the initial lowball counterproposal they offered was actually vastly inflated. Their aim is to hack away at the bill, then vote against it. And you can probably forget about even that level of commitment to the American Families Plan. Josh Hawley might have some family-benefits proposals, and so might Mitt Romney on the party's other wing, but when it gets to crunch time, you can expect at least the former (and very possibly the latter) to vote against the plan and fist-pump at the faithful.

This is an American political ecosystem where shame has ceased to function as a social force and, in fact, shamelessness has become a political superpower. To survive and thrive in the entirely degraded post-Trump Republican Partythe culmination of 40-plus years of self-replicating insanityyou cannot have any compunction about lying your ass off and acting in continual, ceaseless bad faith. There are people in this party who voted against the American Rescue Plan and then went bragging to their constituents about all the relief they'd brought home. Flip-flopping is pass. You now have to be able to juggle multiple contradictory positions at once. John Katko made the mistake Wednesday of thinking any principleeven that an attack on their own workplace should be investigated by Congresswas durable enough to survive the gauntlet of self-serving nonsense. Democrats should do their own commission, and then they should do their own bills. This will require Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema coming back to reality, and seeing all of the above for it is before signing off on filibuster reform. You cannot negotiate with the void.

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Once More For the People in the Back: You Cannot Negotiate or Compromise With the Republican Party - Esquire

Michigan legislative Republican leaders and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Thursday theyd reached an understanding on future pandemic-related orders, signaling a possible end to a stalemate thats complicated budget talks and held up billions of dollars worth of COVID-19 aid.

House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Clare, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, said in separate statements issued late Thursday afternoon that theyd reached an agreement with the governor to work on a plan to include the Legislature in future pandemic-related orders. They also said the governor agreed to end an effort to make COVID-19 workplace rules permanent.

In exchange, Wentworth and Shirkey said Whitmers administration will be looped into ongoing budget negotiations.

Both the House and Senate last week passed initial plans for the budget year that begins Oct. 2, although neither plan was negotiated with the administration. On Friday, financial experts in the House, Senate, and state Department of Treasury are expected to announce a multibillion-dollar increase to previous state revenue projections, and the state still has billions of dollars available in federal funding to allocate from the CARES Act and the American Rescue Act.

Related: Despite pandemic, Michigan projected to see multibillion-dollar budget surplus

Ive consistently said I believe the budget process is better with the governor involved, and the states pandemic management is better with the Legislature involved, Wentworth said. The critical issues facing our state are simply too big and are hurting too many people for us to waste any more time. The people we represent are tired of disagreement and just want results. This agreement is a good first step in getting us to that point.

Whitmer said in a statement the agreement shows how we can unite around investing in our schools, small businesses, and communities to help them thrive.

I look forward to working with the legislature to invest the billions in federal resources sent to us by both the Trump and Biden administrations and pass a budget that makes lasting investments in our shared priorities, she continued.

The Republican-led Legislature and the Whitmer administration have been at odds for months over the states handling of COVID-19, particularly when it came to mask-wearing requirements and restrictions on in-person business or events.

A key factor in the apparent thaw was an agreement from Whitmer to end an effort to make permanent workplace COVID-19 rules, enforced through the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Shirkey called the proposed permanent MIOSHA rules a foolish political game that should have ended the minute the CDC updated its guidelines and said he considered the decision to pull back a good faith gesture that she is willing to work with the Legislature.

A news release from the governors office stated rising vaccination rates, falling case numbers and recent updates from the CDC indicate permanent rules will no longer be necessary. MIOSHA will also remove the requirement that employers create a policy prohibiting in-person work for employees to the extent that their work activities can feasibly be completed remotely and update emergency rules to reflect recent guidance from the CDC and MDHHS.

Related: Michigan to lift outdoor COVID-19 restrictions June 1, indoor capacity limits July 1

The news comes hours after Whitmer announced a new timeline for the state to lift COVID-19 restrictions on businesses by July 1, a shift from her initial plan to lift remaining restrictions on a timeline based on vaccination rates.

Beginning Tuesday, June 1, all outdoor capacity limits will be removed, including at sporting events. Indoor settings, including event spaces, gyms and casinos, will increase capacity from 30% to 50%, while other indoor settings already at 50% will stay there for another month. Then on July 1, all broad restrictions will be lifted.

Michigan pivoted its mask mandate on May 15 to require face coverings indoors for only individuals who arent fully vaccinated, following CDC recommendations that fully vaccinated individuals no longer need to wear a mask indoors in most situations. However, businesses and other venues can still require all staff and visitors to wear masks, and people who arent fully vaccinated are required to wear a mask indoors until July 1.

As of Wednesday, May 19, Michigan had administered nearly 7.9 million doses of the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. About 56.8% of the 16 and older population has gotten a first dose, or about 4.6 million residents, and more than 3.7 million residents are fully vaccinated.

COVID-19 cases have declined for five weeks in Michigan, and hospitalizations are down for three weeks. Over the last seven days, the state has averaged 1,435 cases and 55 deaths per day. A month ago, Michigan averaged more than 6,000 cases and 57 deaths per day.

Vaccine appointments, including walk-ins, are available through local health departments, pharmacies and health care providers across the state. For more information, visit the states COVID-19 vaccine website.

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Republican lawmakers agree to negotiate budget, pandemic-related orders with Whitmer - MLive.com

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (left) and Rep. Dan Newhouse (right). (Getty Images)

The U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of a commission to investigate the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with two Washington state Republicans joining with Democrats to approve its formation.

Rep. Herrera Beutler in middle of impeachment trial turmoil

In total, 35 Republicans crossed party lines to join their Democratic colleagues in supporting the commission, with the final vote sitting at 252 to 175. That included Washington Republican Representatives Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse.

Next, the commission will have to garner approval in the U.S. Senate, and faces a tough road ahead with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voicing his disapproval earlier this week. Speaking on the floor of the U.S. Senate, McConnell labeled it a slanted and unbalanced proposal, signaling that Republican support in the upper chamber may be limited. The bill will need 60 votes in the Senate in order to end debate and move it to a final vote.

Herrera Beutler and Newhouse have taken flack from fellow Republicans in recent months, having both voted to finalize the 2020 election results, as well as to impeach then-President Donald Trump for his role in inciting the Capitol riot.

Herrera Beutler also voted against the eventual ouster of Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney from her role as Republican conference chair in Congress. Cheneys removal was the culmination of months of vocal opposition to Trumps prominence within the party following the events of Jan. 6 at the Capitol.

Report card grades state Republicans who supported impeachment

Herrera Beutlers own criticism of Trump after the Capitol riot saw her censured by the Clark County GOP last February. Rep. Newhouse will soon face a pair of Republican challengers including former gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp in the August primary in his bid for reelection, both of whom have criticized him for not adequately standing behind the former president.

The third Republican member of Washingtons Congressional delegation, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, voted against the formation of the Jan. 6 commission. McMorris Rodgers had also previously voted against impeaching Trump in January.

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Pair of Washington Republicans vote to approve investigation into Capitol riot - MyNorthwest.com

Correction: This article has been updated to correct which states Joe Biden won in 2020 that Donald Trump won in 2016.

WASHINGTONShortly after meeting at the White House on Wednesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., sent an aggressive fundraising text signaling a renewed effort to target his host, the president.

"I just met with Corrupt Joe Biden and hes STILL planning to push his radical Socialist agenda onto the American people," the text said.

McCarthy and other Republicans said intraparty squabbles, including the drama surrounding Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.,distracted them from presenting a unified front against Biden and his big spending plans.

Now that Cheney's been expelled from Republican congressional leadership, the GOP and its allies are renewing attacks on Biden on issues such as immigration, taxing the wealthy, foreign policyand the ability of a 78-year-old man to handle the political world's toughest jobs.

A number of factors, analysts said, have foiled those Republican attempts and could keep Republicans from landing a lasting punch.

Biden hosts 'big four' Congressional leaders at WH

President Joe Biden hosts the first formal gathering of the "big four" congressional leaders on Wednesday. Biden's sit-down Oval Office meeting comes as the White House accelerates its efforts to reach a bipartisan infrastructure agreement. (May 12)

AP

After more than three months in office, Biden enjoys approval ratings of more than 50%, and polling showssupport for his ambitious spending plans that include $1.9 trillion approved for COVID-19 relief and $2.3 trillion proposed for jobs and infrastructure.

'I don't understand the Republicans': Joe Biden says GOP in middle of 'mini-revolution' amid Cheney dustup

'Stop the Spending Spree': Fiscal conservatives mobilize to block Biden's jobs and families plans

The Republicans' success or failure in tarnishing Biden and his team could determine whether they win back Congress in 2022 and the White House in 2024. History is on their side: Midterm electionsfrequently see control of Congress change hands.

Ex-President Donald Trump, deprived of Twitter and other social mediabut still viewed by many as the most powerful Republican voice in the country, increased his outputof written statements, many of them attacking his successor over a variety of issues.

Stepped-up Republican attacks may not resonate, analysts said,especially if more people get back to work, inflation is checked, and the economy rebounds after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lara Brown, director of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, said most Americans "approve of the job President Biden is doing and believe that the country is on the right track."

"It is difficult for the Republicans to raise a ruckus and rile the public," she said, "when most are either satisfied or feeling optimistic about the future.

Republicans have had little success demonizing Biden with independent voters because so many people feel they know him, analysts said.

The president has been a fixture in American politics for more than a half-century. A senator from Delaware for more than three decades, Biden participated in many high-profile hearings and congressional debates. He served eight years as vice president to President Barack Obama.

After winning the Democratic nomination for president last year, Bidenracked up more than 80 million votes to unseat Trump despite Trump and his Republican allies lobbing constant allegations of malfeasance against Biden and his sonHunter, as well as attacks on Biden's fitness to hold office.

Some of those attacks have continued into the Biden presidencybutto little avail.

An average of polls compiled by Real Clear Politics gives Biden an average job approval rating of 54.2%.

The underlying data in those polls shows a common theme: Republicans tend not to like Biden, and Democrats support him strongly, including those who backed more liberal candidates such as Bernie Sanders in last year's primaries.

Americans have a generally positive view of the president who casts himself as the product of a working-class environment in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a practical politician willing to work with Republicans on legislation to help Americans.

"There's nothing new (Republicans) can say that's going to change anybody's mind," saidPatrickMurray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., left, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., head opposition to President Joe Biden's big spending plans.Evan Vucci, AP

Many Republicans expect Americans will become dissatisfied with record levels of government spending and debt, an increasingly crowded U.S.-Mexican borderand new rules and regulations promulgated by the Democratic Congress and the Biden administration.

Pledging to work with the Biden administration on an infrastructure bill, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he is "hopeful" that "we may be able to do some things on a bipartisan basis but they got off to a pretty hard left-wing start."

"We don't intend to participate in turning America into a left-wing,kind of Bernie Sanders vision of what this country ought to be like," McConnell told Fox News after the meeting between Biden and congressional leaders.

Conservative groups are stepping up campaigns against Biden and his spending proposals.

The organization Americans For Prosperity is preparing ads for competitive House elections in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia. Biden wrested those states from Trump in the 2020 election, providing him his margin of victory in the Electoral College.

Some Republican criticism plays off Biden's age and his occasionally mangled syntax, but that strategy has met limited success. Some of the attacks mirror the ones Trump made in 2020 against "Sleepy Joe."

"Trump never found a salient way to brand Biden, and Republicans continue to struggle after the election," Republican strategist Alex Conant said.

"Conservatives main angle of criticism is Bidens age," he said, "but nobody is afraid of their grandfather."

Republicans said they were distracted in making the case against Biden by a lack of cohesion, including internal disagreements over what to do about Trump.

Some blamed Cheney, the now-former House Republican Conference chair who argued that the party should move past Trump and stop echoing his lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him. She said those claims triggered the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, an incident Democrats would surely use against Republicans when elections roll around.

'Just the Trump party':Liz Cheney's demotion proves Trump still rules Republican politics, experts say

'I will not sit back': In fiery speech, Rep. Liz Cheney calls Trump a 'threat'

House Republicans voted Wednesday to demote Cheney from her role as third-ranking Republican. She responded that the GOP would struggle against Biden and his agenda if it continues to embrace Trump and his conspiracy theories.

"To be as effective as we can be to fight against those things, our party has to be based on truth," Cheney told NBC News.

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., who supported demoting Cheney, said voters are disenchanted with Biden and the Democrats. Scalise told Fox News he sees "a lot of really serious concern about the direction that the socialist Democrats are taking us," and "Biden has embraced that far-left Bernie Sandersagenda."

"People don't want this to become a socialist nation, yet you see how far theyre moving," Scalise said.

Republicans had success taking control of Congress in the elections of 1994 and 2010, the first midterms for Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and BarackObama.

Both of those presidents were more polarizing than Biden, analysts said, and Republicans made great use of hot-button issues, such asDemocratic health care proposals.

The success of attacks on Biden may depend on overarching factors, particularly the state of the economy, analysts said. A massive event could also shake politics, as 9/11 did in the run-up to the 2002 elections.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for Republicans is they lack the megaphone of the White House to promote themselves and denigratetheir opponents.

"It's always difficult to generate a unifying message when you're the party out of power," GOP pollster Whit Ayres said.

Published9:30 am UTC May. 15, 2021Updated9:01 pm UTC May. 18, 2021

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Joe Biden proves an elusive target for Republicans. After Cheney fight, their focus is back on the president - USA TODAY

As recently as May 2019, just two years ago, Texas Republicans and their allies were not at all eager to approve a sweeping abortion ban. It wasn't because they preferred moderation on reproductive rights, but rather, because they didn't think it would work out well -- legally or politically.

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) said at the time that he considered Texas "clearly the most pro-life state in the country," but added that major abortion restrictions simply weren't "the highest priority" for GOP officials. Patrick concluded that other states could take the lead.

A lot can change in two years.

Texas became the largest state Wednesday with a law that bans abortions before many women even know they are pregnant, but with a unique provision that essentially leaves enforcement to private citizens through lawsuits against doctors or anyone who helps a woman get an abortion.

As abortion bans go, this one's a doozy. Texas has approved a so-called "heartbeat" bill, which bans abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy. As the Associated Press' report noted, there are real, practical problems with such a timeline: many Texas women, at least those who can't afford to travel to Democratic-led states to terminate unwanted pregnancies, will be required to seek abortions before they know they're pregnant.

But while other Republican-led states have approved related measures, the new abortion ban in the Lone Star State goes a little further.

The Texas Tribune reported, "Instead of having the government enforce the law, the bill turns the reins over to private citizens who are newly empowered to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps someone get an abortion after a fetal heartbeat has been detected. The person would not have to be connected to someone who had an abortion or to a provider to sue."

In other words, if a Texan learns that a neighbor had an abortion seven weeks after getting pregnant, he could file suit against the physician who performed the procedure. And the nurse who was in the room. And the friend who drove the neighbor to the health clinic.

Whether that litigious Texan has anything to do with the neighbor or her family is, under the state's new law, irrelevant. The AP report added, "Critics say that provision would allow abortion opponents to flood the courts with lawsuits to harass doctors, patients, nurses, domestic violence counselors, a friend who drove a woman to a clinic, or even a parent who paid for a procedure."

Critics say that, of course, because it's true.

MSNBC's Laura Bassett noted an ironic twist: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed the abortion ban just one day after the Republican governor signed a measure banning local government entities, including public schools, from enforcing COVID-19 mask mandates.

After signing the executive order, Abbott wrote on twitter, "Texans, not [government], should decide their best health practices."

So much for that idea.

Ordinarily, the state's new abortion ban would face immediate trouble in the courts, but let's not forget that the U.S. Supreme Court announced this week that it will hear a Mississippi case that threatens to undo Roe v. Wade protections, and perhaps even allow the kind of abortion ban signed into law in Texas yesterday. Watch this space.

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Why Texas Republicans' new abortion ban is different than most - MSNBC