A news ‘spin’ from Arizona that Washington really needs
Jan 19, 2017, 5:22 AM | Updated: 3:16 pm
Lots of Democrats feel like they’re going to be sweating it out over the next four — maybe the next eight?! — years with a Donald Trump presidency.
But one Arizona Democrat is using sweat to unify Washington and she isn’t even trying.
I’ll fill you in in a second, but first, let’s review just a small sample of the insanity we are currently facing in this country:
- A protester set himself on fire in front of the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C.
- Dozens of congressional Democrats are NOT showing up at the inauguration
- A church won’t mention Trump’s name because it’s a “trauma trigger” for their parishioners
- Scores of celebrities who threatened Canadian residency are still here
Yes, there’s much insanity going on because of Trump and I’m not even counting the insanity created directly by Trump.
But amidst the crazy, one Arizona congresswoman is taking a stand for bipartisan cooperation. Actually, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema is taking a seat on a spin cycle to foster relations across the aisle.
From what we hear, there’s not a whole lot of sitting going on and the truth is, she’s probably doing it to stay in shape, but a byproduct has been Democrats and Republicans — gasp! — working together.
When Congress is in session, Sinema leads a spin class on Wednesday mornings in the Congressional gym.
She doesn’t go easy on the Democrats. In fact, she doesn’t go easy on ANYBODY. By all accounts, her spin class is downright brutal.
That’s probably why Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy asked her to start teaching her quasi-legendary spin class in a gym that is exclusively for House members.
She had been doing a spin class for fundraisers, but McCarthy convinced her to bring it in House. (See what I did there?) and it’s lead to folks from both parties working together.
Republican Rep. John Katko of New York told AZCentral that when he was looking for someone from across the aisle to cosponsor family leave legislation, he thought of Sinema.
I’m sure her voice was in his head from all the times she’s encouraged him to keep going when he wanted to stop. And she obviously knows how to push people to be their best. Plus, he knows she doesn’t sweat the small stuff. (I could do this all day.)
You know, I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Sinema is the only Democratic member of Arizona’s congressional delegation that I know is still scheduled to show up at Trump’s inauguration.
That’s probably because she’s already done her share of yelling at Republicans (remember, they ask for it in her spin class), she is probably stress-free from all the exercise and based on conversations that take place while she’s wiping away sweat, she realizes that there are plenty of reasonable people in the Republican Party and that they all deserve a chance — even the incoming president.
Who, incidentally, could use a little time on a bike.