I earlier posted a story titled “Seemingly Illogical Behavior Simply Means We are Missing Facts”. This referred to Sinema’s actions/inactions related to her staunch defense of the Senate filibuster.
In it, I argued that she is:
LIKELY TOO SMART AND TOO SAVVY
Sinema is likely too intelligent to actually believe that giving Senate Republicans an insurmountable minority veto power over passing what the people want and need is a good thing. It is also likely she is too savvy not to see the fascist, anti-democratic actions of the Republican party in state after state and not know that her position is blocking protection of voting rights, as well as too savvy not to know her position is a huge barrier to addressing the global climate crisis — she was a former candidate for the Green Party after all. And she cannot be so naive as to think that Trump and Republicans in the Senate will reward her for her support of their positions.
Instead, I suggested that:
IF NOT CLUELESSNESS, THEN THE BROAD ANSWER HAS TO BE
The promise of some reward (personal or professional) that makes her betrayal of the people and short-circuiting of her political career worth it and/or ...
A threat of some kind that is so grave that she would sacrifice her honor, her integrity, her re-election, and the American people rather than face it.
Then I asked those who know her to share their insights. That has happened in a number of instances (not because of me of course), but those who know her well seem as baffled as everyone else. She continues to double down on her obstinance, including recently saying she will not support the Democratic infrastructure bill as it is outlined. The diarist writes:
Right, so no Dem-only package = no bipartisan/Sinema bill. Man, blowing up everything for a living is nice work if you can get it.
Unfortunately for Sinema, her apparent power trip is wearing thinner with fellow Democrats by the day.
That includes her fellow lawmakers as well as voters, who seem like people she might want to pay attention to if she wants to keep her elevated political platform.
NEW HYPOTHESIS
Since there appears to be no evidence emerging that supports my suggested hypotheses — there is an identifiable reward or a threat driving her actions — then let’s re-examine my initial assumption — that she is too smart and too savvy not to recognize the potential negative consequences of her actions. Those negative consequences would include not only electoral defeat but more importantly, profound harm to the American people.
Question #1: So, what might lead to a really smart, normally well-meaning person to do potentially disastrous things once they gain a certain level of power? One potential answer: ego-driven blindness. Question #2: If it is ego-driven blindness, wouldn’t those close to this person have seen this coming? Answer: Not necessarily.
EGO-DRIVEN BLINDNESS
I now speculate that Sinema thinks she is playing some brilliant 12-dimensional chess and in the end she will score a win for the country.
- She will accomplish what even the brilliant, charismatic President Obama could not accomplish, namely, true “bipartisanship”.
- She will demonstrate that her “mavericky” actions were right and those of the rest of her party were wrong.
- She will save the day and arise as the hero for the people and a true leader.
- The voters will recognize this brilliance in the end and re-elect her or ..
- This victory will launch her to even higher office.
I further speculate that she, in fact, does believe her own arguments about the value of the filibuster and the importance of bipartisanship and that it is this willfully blind belief that is leading her to act in a very destructive way.
WHEN YOU COMPLETELY FLUMMOX YOUR FRIENDS
Why, if true, would no one close to her have seen this coming? An example of highly unpredictable behavior can be seen in the brief history of Nelda Wray. I was once a researcher at a VA medical center. I was there when in January of 2003, a woman named Nelda Wray took office as director of R&D in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Appointed by George W. Bush, her tenure was brief and has been politely labelled tumultuous. She was so immediately disruptive, many in her department quit in her early days, while others stayed specifically to document her malfeasance. Although other Bush appointees were known to be bad picks — albeit not as horrendous as most Trump appointees — those who knew Nelda Wray were very surprised and puzzled by her actions. It seemed she quite simply lost her way upon reaching a position of higher power.
IS SINEMA UNPERSUADABLE?
Unlike Nelda Wray, Senator Sinema is not engaging in any illegal behavior. However, like Nelda Wray, Sinema may have reached a level of power where the heady fumes have proven too much for her intelligence and common sense to handle.
Unfortunately, there is no way to prove or disprove whether her seeming blindness is real or feigned. If real, however, then this blindness may be rendering her unpersuadable.
Heaven help all of us if that is the case!