On July 4, 1776, Americans officially began the process of divesting ourselves of the British royals.
This was during the reign of George III, before he became spitting mad. While he was accused of being a “tyrant” or permitting forms of “tyranny” four times in the Declaration of Independence, he certainly wasn’t the worst wastrel the House of Hanover produced. That’d be George IV, so it’s probably good we got out while the getting was good.
On Nov. 3, 2021, Democratic politicians took a baby step back toward bowing to the royal family. Granted, it wasn’t much of a step, but it also wasn’t much of a royal, either.
Instead, an American B-actress credibly accused of bullying her aides, who’s a royal by dint of marrying the thickest, most dissolute scion of the House of Windsor that isn’t connected to Jeffrey Epstein, clearly played a role in convincing House Democrats to put four weeks of paid family leave back into President Joe Biden’s gargantuan $1.75 trillion spending bill.
According to CNN, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Wednesday that the provision would be inserted back into the legislation after it had initially been nixed because swing Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia indicated it was a no-go. On Friday, it had been taken out to reduce the overall cost of the compromise framework.
The re-insertion of the measure came after Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, urged Capitol Hill lawmakers to put the provision back into the bill.
Politico first reported Wednesday that Markle was calling Republican senators, urging them to support paid leave.
“I’m in my car. I’m driving. It says, ‘caller ID blocked,'” GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia told the news outlet.
“Honestly … I thought it was Sen. Manchin. His calls come in blocked. And she goes ‘Sen. Capito?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ She said, ‘This is Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.’”
“I couldn’t figure out how she got my number,” Capito added.
Another Republican who got a call from Markle was Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
She added : “much to my surprise, she called me on my private line and she introduced herself as the duchess of Sussex, which Is kind of ironic”
— Marianne LeVine (@marianne_levine) November 3, 2021
Politico noted Markle likely got the numbers from Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. Markle and Gillibrand have been working together on pushing the paid family leave issue.
It’s unclear what other calls Markle was making — although presumably, if she was pressing Republicans on a condition in a spending package they’re unlikely to be voting for, one would also assume she was calling Democrats who might be willing to sacrifice the paid family leave issue to get Manchin’s vote. (Given Markle’s general cluelessness on politics and Gillibrand’s disastrous 2020 presidential campaign, however, this might be presuming a bit more competence on these matters than both parties have shown in the past.)
And it wasn’t just lawmakers Markle was focusing her efforts on. According to the U.K. Daily Mail, the Duchess of Sussex “gave $25 Starbucks gift cards to employees of a nonprofit pushing the paid leave issue” on Sunday.
Markle distributed the cards to nonprofit PL+US, all paid for via the nonprofit she runs with Prince Harry, the Archewell Foundation.
The Duchess of Sussex (aka #MeghanMarkle) bought everyone at @PaidLeaveUS a few cups of coffee while we’re working overtime to #SavePaidLeave. Unbelievably classy… and necessary. Truly honored to know she has our backs in the fight to win #PaidLeaveForAll. pic.twitter.com/iPtTO07GHQ
— Neil Sroka (@nsroka) October 30, 2021
This is a joke? right? ?♀️?♀️? $25.00 for ALL of them? that’s like 3 coffees from @Starbucks #pathetic
Meghan Markle buys coffee for employees of campaign group https://t.co/ikCglj2CyC via https://t.co/Y8bjDJmWeL— Catherine Morrin (@catmorrin) October 31, 2021
Don’t break the bank, Duchess.
Last month, furthermore, Markle wrote an open letter to House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer advocating for the issue.
“I’m not an elected official, and I’m not a politician,” the letter read. “I am, like many, an engaged citizen and a parent. And because you and your congressional colleagues have a role in shaping family outcomes for generations to come, that’s why I’m writing to you at this deeply important time — as a mom — to advocate for paid leave.”
A mom who just happens to be a member of the House of Windsor.
Pelosi and her sycophants might argue about whether Markle’s current royal role was the determining factor here, but trust me, no one would care about this letter if it simply came from an actress on “Suits,” which was Markle’s former gig.
If the Democrats were going to start taking suggestions from British royalty about paid family leave, this was arguably the worst time to start.Manchin has already indicated he has cold feet about the spending package and said he wouldn’t vote on it until Democrats brought the bipartisan infrastructure package up for a vote.
Talking to GOP senators to get them to support the bloated spending package is a waste of time and this certainly won’t convince Manchin to come back to the table, at least in its current form. (Manchin said he would consider putting family leave in the bill, but only with a payroll tax for workers attached, according to Business Insider — a likely non-starter for other Democrats, especially since Biden promised no new taxes for those making under $400,000.)
In all likelihood, that means this is a dead-end provision with the potential to blow up Biden’s bill. Of all the times to decide to start inching back toward British royalty, Nov. 3, 2021, might not have been the best.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
