Senator Haw Haw Hawley is probably as loony toons as Marjorie Taylor Greene and may actually believe the Qanonsense. Ted Cruz, on the other hand, isn't loony. He's just playing to his base. Who knows, maybe going full Karen on the United staff at the Bozeman airport was just playing to his base too.

The hearings last week didn't seem to really be about the supreme court at all. It appeared to be more about republicans expressing their midterm election strategy which seems to be opposing interracial marriage, opposing gay marriage, and opposing contraception. Baselessly accusing the next supreme court justice of being part of the imagined democratic pedo ring was just a side benefit for them. The polling numbers on these topics aren't really in their favor by a wide margin so beyond whipping up excitement among their base I find this a curious strategy. Whipping up the base was trump's strategy from start to finish and we all know how well that worked out for him.