The Devil Went Down to Georgia, written and sung by the Charlie Daniels band, won a Grammy for the best song by a band, hit number 3 on the Billboard chart and was voted the best single by the Country Music Association in 1979. It told the story of the Devil who went to Georgia in search of a soul, and lost a banjo contest with a local boy, Johnny.
I’m not sure that the Devil is the correct analogy in Georgia today, but it is a devil of a dilemma for the Republicans. Herschel Walker, former football star for the university there and in the pros, is in a runoff election for the U. S. Senate, against Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent.
But, since the Senate is now at 49 Republicans and 50 Democrats, some are saying it doesn’t make much difference if Walker is elected or not, as a 50–50 split still allows the Dems to control that body, as the Vice-President, Kamala Harris, as President of the Senate, can (and has) cast the tie-breaking vote on bills if both parties hold firm.
That idea, however, has brought pushback from Ted Cruz, the Republican Senator from Texas, who believes that a Senate with 51 Democrats has the possibility to do away with the filibuster on many bills. If that happens, the minority party has no recourse except to accept the one-party rule the majority craves and will pursue at any cost.
That may be a possibility, even though getting 60 votes to eliminate the filibuster would be a stretch. Given the squishes in the GOP, that might be accomplished for certain targeted legislation.
My opinion is that there is a more important consideration in this election. If Warnock is reelected, that would give the Democrats control without the addition of a tie-breaking vote from VP Harris. Imagine this scenario, which is not as fanciful as it might seem.
What would happen if President* Joe Biden were to be removed from office. This might take place if one of three occurrences is seen. First, Biden’s spiral into dementia might become more pronounced and he (and co-president Dr. Jill) accept the inevitable and he resigned for health reasons. The second possibility is that Amendment 25 in invoked and Biden is removed for his inability to do the job as President. (Given the polarization of politics in America, that is the least plausible of my three options.) Our third choice is for an investigation by the House GOP majority, into ‘first’ son, Hunter, and his ties to China and Ukraine and the money he made by trading on his father’s name and position. This probe into Hunter’s life is already promised to begin under the now-majority GOP, and will commence in January, according to the Republican leaders there.
If, and this is a real possible outcome, Joe Biden is implicated in any nefarious schemes, it might force the President, his handlers and his wife to insist he resign rather than face ignominy in the courts and press. Such an occasion has already been seen. In 1974, then President Richard Nixon resigned as he faced certain impeachment and conviction over the Watergate scandal.
So – what happens then? If Biden resigns or is removed from office, the sitting Vice-President, Kamala Harris, assumes the office and powers of the Presidency. Now comes the intriguing part. According to the 25th Amendment, she would nominate a candidate to fill the office of Vice-President, as Nixon did when his Vice-President resigned due to scandal, and again when that nominee, Gerald Ford, did when Nixon stepped down. Nelson Rockefeller became Ford’s number two man.
We would be faced with a nominee from Harris who has to be confirmed by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress. If Warnock wins the runoff, any Democrat so nominated, no matter how far left or downright loony, would be voted into the Vice-President’s position. However, if Walker won, the Republicans could block anybody the Dems named.
This would entail the necessity of both parties actually negotiating with each other, and allow the GOP to keep a radical from becoming ‘a heartbeat’ away from the most powerful position in the world.
We do not know if Biden will be able to complete his term in office, but watching him perform and anticipate much negative information from any investigation into his son’s business dealings, makes the possibility of a resignation or removal a real possibility. We should hope (and pray) that Walker wins the runoff, thus blocking someone from the far left being placed into Harris’ vacated spot. That makes the special election vital for the American people.
As usual, the devil is in the details, and in Georgia, the runoff election has all the elements of a devilish outcome.