Fractures are forming in the Bice / Holt friendship…

One cool thing about Trump being voted out of office is that we're quietly seeing a brief return to politics as normal across America.

For example, Republicans in Oklahoma's congressional delegation are back to their familiar roles of being resolute oppositionists, and after four years of not giving a shit, suddenly seem to care again about the federal deficit, fiscally conservative spending and bipartisanship.

In fact, they're even starting to take shots at fellow conservatives who don't tow that same party-over-country line!

Check out this tweet our new Congresswoman Stephanie Bice sent to her old craft beer drinking buddy, OKC mayor David Holt, after he appeared on MSNBC to throw his support for the $1.9-trillion Covid-relief package working its way through D.C.

That's pretty cool. Holt and Bice have always tried to present themselves as chummy, civilized, city-style Republicans who get along well. You know, the nice ones who are open and inclusive enough to meet you at a gentrified brewpub and not care that the waiter is gay and has green hair, but still supports regressive fiscal policies that disproportionately benefit the rich and wealthy. It will be fun to watch them turn on each other like two old alliance members in tribal council on the world's lamest season of Survivor.

If you ask me, the tweet was a smart, calculated move by Bice. Now that she's a congresswoman in a competitive district and needs to constantly raise money for reelection, it's important that she pander to her base. Attacking Holt on social media is a good way to do that.

Although he's popular with the boring purple moderates in OKC who like his social media accessibility and mic drops, the hardcore MAGA-Republicans can't stand him. To them, he's basically a Benedict Arnold / Omarosa. They were okay with Holt when he served in the State Senate and led efforts to stigmatize the poor by requiring welfare recipients to pass drug tests in order to receive state assistance (while not holding executives with corporations who receive public subsidies to abide by the same standards), but now they think he tastes wost than a bottle of Hefner family Argentinean sauce. Due to the pragmatic and politically-calculated positions he's taken as mayor during the pandemic, they see him as a RINO socialist-communist who hates America. They're also actively trying to find some well-funded right-wing folks to run against him for mayor in a few years.

Bice also sent this tweet to further explain her opposition to the Covid relief plan. If you like corporate-speak statements that lack substance, distort information and play to the crowd, you'll love it:

In all fairness to Bice, she really has no other choice than to be against this bill. Otherwise, she would be excommunicated by her party and voters in 2022. That being said, why can't she just be honest and say something like "Hey, I know our country is still hurting and it's very important to get more Covid relief funding out there to prevent the economy from crashing, but Joe Biden is President now and Nancy Pelosi still runs congress, so I have to be against it. Cheers, y'all!"

Anyway, as the year wears on, it will be interesting to see what happens with the Holt / Bice friendship. Will it devolve all the way down to poo emojis, or will they make up over craft cocktails at the Jones Assembly? Stay with The Lost Ogle. We'll keep you advised.