I’ve been trying to figure out why House Republicans, in a closed meeting, on the evening of a federal holiday, against the advice of their own leadership, would gut the Office of Congressional Ethics.  The vote was 119-to-74.

I thought it not possible that 119 elected members of the United States House of Representatives could be so stupid as to think that this would go unnoticed and be allowed to stand.  Then I remembered that the people who voted for those 119 House members also would have voted to make Donald Trump the most powerful man in the world.  People like that might have voted a chicken into the House.

By then, possibilities other than being that stupid had occurred to me.  I’ve listed a few below.  Please vote for the explanation that you think applies to at least a plurality of those 119 Republican House members.  Alternative explanations are welcome in the comments section.