So! Republicans in Congress made their first order of business axing an anti-corruption office that might have cracked down on Congressional malfeasance.
No one on the right or left is ever surprised by political corruption. We all expect no less.
This is an especially brazen move, however. Wouldn't it have been more savvy to allow the Office of Congressional Ethics to function while subverting it from the inside? A toothless ethics commission can provide great cover for shady activities. Instead, the GOP is dispensing with even the appearance of cleanliness.
Donald Trump, to his credit, put his own party on (moderate) blast for the move.
To what extent does anyone really care? That's an open question and remains to be seen. Congress seems to flatly not care about even the appearance of propriety. President-elect Trump appears, at first glance, to care. On the other hand, he can fire off some disapproving tweets, and then say, "Well, I tried to stop them!" without actually doing anything substantive. Maybe he'll do something substantive, but he scores political points whether he does or not.
The same calculation seems to be true of the Republican congressional leadership, specifically Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Major Leader Kevin McCarthy, who both publicly disapproved of the move to axe the Office of Congressional Ethics.
Drain the swamp, everyone! See you tomorrow.
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