"Bluexit"

By Zamboni

It's not clear why Mark Meadows gave up the 36-slide PowerPoint on how the Trumpsters were planning to commit treason — and then decide to stop cooperating with the January 6 committee. We don't care. The important thing is, we have the PowerPoint.

And the fact that it was presented to members of Congress means that anyone who saw it and said nothing needs to be charged/convicted/expelled/undergo-a-colonoscopy-without-anesthesia. Just sayin'.

Meanwhile, tweeps we follow and admire have advanced an interesting counter-argument to the Trumpsters-destroy-democracy scenario. If the Trumpsters succeed, why shouldn't the blue states — rich, populous and prosperous — engage in a federal tax strike?

After all, red states like Mississippi, West Virginia and (particularly, tonight) Kentucky depend upon federal dollars — mostly paid by states like New York — to stay afloat. So if the Republicans shut down democracy — if they end voting rights, reproductive rights, and marriage equality, and gerrymander minority-majorities in Congress — blue states should simply say, nah, nuh-uh, we're not supporting this. "We have the numbers, we have the business, we have the dollars. If we choose to shut down, everything shuts down," explains one of the "Bluexit" tweeps.

Of course, this won't work until corporate America realizes that the greater good (for the country and for themselves, long-term) relies on their not supporting Nazis who give them tax breaks. But aside from that, it's an interesting argument. And it's basically the analysis about why the North beat the South in the Civil War: bigger, stronger economy, more solid tax base, larger population. (And now you have to factor in the effects of climate change, which are hitting red states a little bit harder than blue states.)

The take-away? We're really better off if we stay in this together. But it's mighty tempting to think about hitting the Trumpsters where it hurts. So we should all channel our inner Lincoln, right? We cats PURR.