In The Joy of Yiddish, Leo Rosten defines chutzpah as “that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.”

Ladies and gentlemen, meet US Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and US House Speaker  Mike Johnson (R-LA).

Thune: “Above all right now, with an enhanced terror threat from Iran and Iran-funded terrorist groups, it is vital that we ensure the Department of Homeland Security is fully funded and fully functioning.”

Johnson: “Perhaps most crucially of all, the military action in Iran makes it all the more urgent and crucial to have a fully staffed, fully funded Department of Homeland Security across all departments.”

From their respective perches atop both houses of Congress, Thune and Johnson have gone far out of their way  not only to ensure that the murderers of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis remain thus far unpunished, but to also spare those further up the “immigration enforcement” food chain —  Secretary of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem, for example —  any negative consequences for unleashing poorly-trained, ultra-violent goon squads on the American public.

As a direct result, Democrats (and Republicans still holding on to a shred of residual moral fiber) blocked funding for DHS until the matter gets settled.

Now Thune and Johnson, having busted their humps to spare US president Donald Trump the embarrassment of congressional repudiation of his illegal war of aggression and choice against Iran, are using their own fecklessness on congressional war powers as a tool to shame Democrats (and Republicans still holding on to a shred of residual moral fiber) into granting them a get out of jail free card on their PREVIOUS perfidy.

Sure, they killed Mom. Sure, they killed Dad. But lighten up already — after all, they’re orphans!

If that’s not chutzpah, I’m at a loss to say what possibly could be.

With the (weak tea) War Powers Resolution already dead for lack of passage in the Senate and the next round of votes on DHS funding pending as I write this column, we may already know whether their gambit worked by the time you read this.

Or maybe not. But either way, pay attention to the incentives here. Rewarding PAST bad behavior virtually guarantees FUTURE bad behavior … even more so when CURRENT bad behavior gets successfully used as Thune and Johnson are using it.

Thomas L. Knapp (X: @thomaslknapp | Bluesky: @knappster.bsky.social | Mastodon: @knappster) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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