So Nancy Pelosi tells Kevin McCarthy no, you can’t appoint foes of the democratic process to a committee investigating an attack on the democratic process. She’s referring to Jan. 6, when an angry mob of Trumpers stormed the Capitol with the goal of preventing legislators from certifying the presidential election results.

The rejected appointees are Rep. Jim Banks and Rep. Jim Jordan, prominent supporters of the big lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. Jordan and Banks and many other Republicans in Congress helped fuel the lie by falsely claiming that voter fraud may have helped Joe Biden beat Trump. The lie inspired Trump’s yahoos to attack the Capitol.

Which leads me to ask my neighbor Swamp Rabbit what’s going on in the political world (as opposed to the real world): “Do you get the feeling that something basic changed during the four-year Trump travesty? Why else would Republicans make light of an insurrection attempt? Why else would they try to appoint guys who condoned the crime and may have been close to the people who planned it?”

Swamp Rabbit is in a cynical mood. “Ain’t no mystery,” he says. “Almost all them Republicans in Congress condoned the crime, as you put it. They rejected democracy when they challenged the fair and square election of Biden. They let the world know they represent minority rule by a rogue party run by a wanna-be dictator. Anybody don’t see that ain’t got the sense they was born with.”

He snaps open a can of beer and continues: “So the answer to your question is yeah, things have changed. Them good-mannered bigots who used to be the face of the GOP was pushed out by Trump goons like Jordan who don’t pretend to believe in nothing but white supremes and states’ rights. Appointin’ Jordan to look into 1/6 was like hiring a firebug to conduct an arson probe.”

“Or choosing Jefferson Davis to investigate the causes of the Civil War,” I say. “That’s what I was getting at when I asked what’s happening. Republicans are giving the finger to the federal government by siding with Trump’s insurrectionists. How long can this go on before we’re in a new civil war with the Confederates, I mean Republicans?”

“You know the answer,” Swamp Rabbit says. “The war’s already started. The difference this time is the Confederates think they can win without paying for their own army.”

Footnote: McCarthy had named five Republicans to serve on the committee but withdrew all their names after Jordan and Banks were rejected. Pelosi says the committee will proceed, but without the bogus cooperation of McCarthy and other Trump sycophants.