RBG's dead, and the GOP will grab more power. So what are we going to do about it?

I could give this whole rigamarole about how Republican Senators should be consistent and not fill the vacancy on SCOTUS that has been caused by RBG's death until a new Senate and presidential term is in place, like they did with another SCOTUS vacancy in 2016. But why waste my time on things that won't happen?

Look, Republicans don't care about consistency, fairness or decency, and they don't get shamed when they're called out for not being consistent, fair or decent. They only care about two things - POWER AND MONEY for themselves and their supporters. All of that high-minded shit that you were taught in school about "public good" and "consent of the governed"? They couldn't care less about that.

Shoving another SCOTUS justice on the court allows for this country to become even more distanced from the will of the people, and slanted in favor of the rich, connected and (mostly) white. And makes the rest of us have to work even harder just to draw even with those favored groups.

Ari Berman of Mother Jones has covered the GOP's many attempts to limit voting and grab power in recent years, and summed up just how out-of-whack things are when it comes to who is in power in DC.

Trump lost popular vote by 2.9 million

Senate GOP represents 15 million fewer Americans than Senate Dems

Senate Ds got 18 million more votes than Senate Rs in 2018

There has never been majority support for Trump, GOP or their agenda

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) September 19, 2020

The same mentality pervades in Wisconsin, where GOP Assembly Speaker Robbin' Vos did his typical pipsqueak bravado act this week, and in the process, he admitted he doesn't care about the large number of people who might not vote for a certain candidate.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, [R]-Rochester, conceded that some suburban seats were competitive, but he said Republicans knew how to win there.

"I think these are all pipe dreams on the part of the Democrats," Vos said. "If somebody wins with 60 percent or 57 percent, it might make you feel a little bit better. But just like in football, all that matters is who wins the game."

Or if they win with 55% or less of the vote, like 13 GOP Assembly members did in 2018, which enabled this notorious picture to emerge after those elections.

Because GOPs can't win with the general public on their ideas, tactics are what they have left. So they rig voting to make it easier for GOP-leaning groups and harder for Dem-leaning ones, and used one good election in 2010 to rig electoral districts to give control to the party that gets fewer votes from the state's voters. In DC, it involves abusing the powers of a US Senate that gives preference to state borders that were drawn 150-300 years ago instead of the number of people who live in those states, and then filling courts with judges who make up decisions to fit the GOP/corporatist agenda, no matter how ridiculous or repressive they may be.

So what do we do from here? Former Hillary Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon summed up the steps perfectly.

1. Oppose Trump's nominee prior to the election, invoking the GOP's own rule from 2016.
2. Defeat Trump on Nov 3
3. Keep seat open until Biden takes office
4. If GOP rams Trump pick thru anyway, add seats to the Court

This is the play. There is no other play.

— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) September 19, 2020

When the GOP grabs their power, we pack the court. And we outlaw gerrymandering, and we blow up the filibuster in the Senate. Sure, that's not how they drew things up in 1787, but when you have a GOP that is acting more like a Fascist dictatorship than a constitutional republic, it's what you need to do to keep the republic.

You've taken the fun out of everything..."