Play the Game or Die

GOT is real, here and now.

Photo by Willian B. on Unsplash

When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground. - Cersei Lannister, Game of Thrones

If there is one skill the Democratic Party mastered, it is being weak. Yes, I said it. WEAK! Hand wringing, agonizing, hesitating, deliberating and procrastinating about doing hard and ruthless things comes naturally. They lack the killer instinct to back an opponent into the corner, up against the ropes, feel them get weak as you keep rocking their sagging body with punishing blows to make them light-headed, then BANG! snap a straight overhand shot to the chin that sends them crashing to the canvas. It isn’t anywhere in their repertoire.

They’d rather dance around the ring, score what they believe are impressive and flashy combinations, then hope the judges rule in their favor with a TKO. The problem with that is you leave your fate to someone else’s decision and judgement. A knockout leaves no doubt. If your opponent is face down in the canvas going night-night, mouthpiece half-escaped from their gaping maw and drool beginning to puddle beneath it, no one can argue who won. It’s clear. Undisputed.

What am I going on about? Mitch McConnell, the Schrödinger’s Cat of Senators. He’s both dead and not dead, active yet inactive, capable yet too crippled to make a public appearance, and Democrats continue to play footsie and waste valuable time.

Whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, the fact remains that Kentucky is down a Senator and isn’t being adequately represented. McConnell, a frail geriatric man, collapsed in his home and some reports say it was a cardiac event. This was kept from the public for weeks by the same party that screeched when Biden’s Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin didn’t reveal complications from an elective procedure requiring sedation after a few days. They also argued every hangnail President Biden suffered was reason he was unfit and should resign.

In Austin’s case, he took his stripes and admitted he should have handled the affair with more transparency. Then, he returned to work at the Pentagon. Really, people actually saw him in the flesh interacting and responding to interview questions in real time. No weeks of vague statements from staffers. No sole reliance hanging on a photo of him posed in a bed with his wife nearby, making people wonder if it was made by AI or not. Old Mitch hasn’t been seen in a month, but Democrats continue to rely on the word of opposition members who claim to have spoken to Senator Phantasm for twenty minutes and find him in good spirits.

Kentucky’s Governor, Democrat Andy Beshear, can call a special election to replace his incapacitated Senator and he has until August 3rd in this year of our lord 2026 to do it. Five days. You can read a brief overview of how it goes down here. He’s had this option for some time now and hasn’t exercised it. Some are asking, why? I know I am.

You know who wouldn’t wait and see or just depend on the goodwill of the opposition to trust that a Senator in his 80’s, a man filmed multiple times having what appear to be TIA’s that freeze him mid-sentence, is fit to serve and shouldn’t be replaced? Mitch McConnell.

Imagine if KY had a Republican governor right now and was down an aging Democratic Senator that ate carpet at their own house after a medical event. That wrinkly bastard would have been on every TV screen, barely hiding a smirk as he made his announcement. He’d extend his beady-eyed head and wiry neck out of his shell…uh I mean collared shirt, and declare in a bourbon-soaked drawl, “The people of Kentucky need full representation. It is patently unjust to hamper this great state’s representation in Congress with only one Senator. I am grateful to Governor Morgunzforall for acting swiftly to call this special election to bring Kentucky’s representation to full strength.”

Doubt me? Who was it that invented a rule out of thin air not to hold nomination hearings to replace Justice Scalia after he died because February of 2016 was too close to the election in November, and whoever the incoming president was should fill the vacancy? Who was it that reversed this earlier invented position when Justice Ginsberg died in September of 2020, then raced to seat Amy “the Lord’s Handmaid” Coney Barrett before the election November 2020?

Both times, Republicans had the majority and the upper hand, so Democrats had to grit their teeth and take it in the shorts. Both times that old prick was filled with glee as he invented practices on the fly to obstruct Constitutional procedure. He could barely hide his shit-eating grin on camera as he crowed about stuffing the Supreme Court with judges to do the bidding of billionaires and racists.

Now that the Democrats have strong grounds to hold an election, possibly giving a Democrat a chance to make a run at winning the seat, what are they doing? Waiting for McConnell’s office to get back to them and really, really prove he’s not dead or a vegetable. You know who wouldn’t be doing that if the shoe was on the other foot? Republicans, especially with Mitch McConnell involved, wouldn’t wait a second to move.

I, and every other registered Democrat tired of watching this party flail, write snippy and ineffective letters, get reamed by SCOTUS and cry, “No fair. MOM!”, want Gov. Beshear to act and do so expeditiously. This party has bowed and kissed Sho’Nuff’s Converse for too long. It’s time for it to come out bare-chested, use The Glow and start kicking some ass. (The Last Dragon. Watch that joint if you’ve never seen it. It’s timeless.)

During Mike Singletary’s brief stint as the San Francisco 49ers head coach, he made news for showing a star player that they weren’t bigger than the team during a tough loss. He began his press conference by telling the reporters that the team will improve and change, but only when the team decides it wants to play like they want to be champions. He was mid-tirade, stopped and took questions. The first one out of the gate was what happened to send his star Tight End Vernon Davis to the locker room.

Davis was called for a key penalty that was extremely costly to the team. Singletary said that players can’t make decisions that cost the team. He wanted every player sold out to a team concept, doing everything possible to get the team wins. After Davis’s penalty, and his lackadaisical attitude about it, his head coach told him to hit the showers, because he was hurting the team more by being on the field than if he was off it. After telling reporters he’d rather play with only ten dedicated men on the field and take the penalty all game, instead of fielding eleven with one person’s sloppiness costing the team, Mr. Singletary gave what is to most fans the climax of his speech. He said, “Cannot play with ‘em. Cannot win with ‘em. Cannot coach with ‘em. Can’t do it! I want WINNERS!”

In the following clip, you can see what this dressing down did for Davis. It literally changed his play and his career.

If they’re not kneecapping popular DSA candidates exciting registered Democrats in the primaries, Dems are being soft elsewhere when they need to go for the jugular. That’s not a winning strategy and the party has the ugly losses as proof. They’re playing not to lose, when the other side is pulling hair, gouging eyes, kicking balls, biting, spitting, and flinging dirt to win. We can’t afford a team that’s not ready to do whatever it takes. Winter is coming, and Democrats better start playing the game of thrones to win. Too many people have already died, and their continued dithering stands to kill a lot more. It’s time for them to be like Mike, and I’ll let him take us out.