The Corruption of the Republican Party

The jaw-dropping hypocrisy of current GOP members is truly mind-boggling.

The Insurrection Caucus needs to be indicted. Now.

Apparently, the only measure of a candidate or party that matters anymore is how much money they can raise.

Nevermind where the money comes from, in this post-Citizens United era. It could be Russia. It could be Saudi Arabia. It could be the NRA.

Remember when Republicans stood for smaller government, lower taxes, sound money policy, tariffs on foreign goods, minimum regulation?

These days the GOP is about social issues alone, all having NOTHING to do with running a country.

• A ban on abortion
  
• No gay marriage
  
• No LGTBQ rights
  
• Unrestricted gun ownership
  

They're not a political party anymore.  They're a scolding auntie.

NEWSFLASH: Russia pushing disinformation in U.S.

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The case is part of a much broader Justice Department crackdown on foreign influence operations aimed at shaping public opinion in the U.S. In 2018, for instance, the Justice Department charged 13 Russian nationals with participating in a huge but hidden social media campaign aimed at sowing discord during the 2016 presidential election won by Republican Donald Trump.

That was FOUR YEARS AGO.  Anything happened to the indictees since???

No. Of course not.

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The 13 Russians are not in custody and not likely to ever face trial. The Justice Department has for years supported indicting foreign defendants in absentia as a way of publicly shaming them and effectively barring them from foreign travel.

Jesus Christ, if everybody doesn't end up in jail it'll be a travesty.

Friday, Ari Melber used his "The Beat" timeslot to broadcast a very-well organized, very compelling, very legally-focused one hour special he called "Inside Trump's Election Plot."


The show sounded like, acted like, a blueprint for DOJ on how and where to bring charges.  By gathering together the eight different unsuccessful avenues Trump attempted to overthrow the election, Melber shows very clearly the pre-meditation, the "conspiracy" aspect of what looked, at the time, like a bunch of randos trying an amateurish cosplay insurrection.

What I took away from the show, however, was a sobering realization.  One we've talked about before.  This thing went SO DEEP, and involved SO MANY PEOPLE and DEPARTMENTS, that if properly indicted, it will decimate the Republican party.

• DOJ was involved
  
• Mike Flynn was involved
  
• Roger Stone was involved
  
• Steve Bannon was involved
  
• Matt Gaetz was involved
  
• Mo Brooks was involved
  
• Ted Cruz was involved
  
• Josh Hawley was involved
  
• John Kennedy was involved
  
• Tommy Tuberville was involved
  
• Rick Scott was involved
  
• Paul Gosar was involved
  
• Darryl Issa was involved
  
• Lauren Boebert was involved
  
• Steve Scalise was involved
  
• Madison Cawthorn was involved
  
• Elise Stefanik was involved
  
• Louie Gohmert was involved
  
• Ronny Jackson was involved
  
• Pete Sessions was involved
  
• Jim Jordan was involved
  
• Tom Cotton was involved
  
• Marjorie Taylor Greene was involved
  
• Scott Perry was involved
  
• Andy Biggs was involved
  
• Kevin McCarthy was involved
  
• Mark Meadows was involved
  
• Jeffrey Clark was involved
  
• John Eastman was involved
  
• Rudy Giuliani was involved
  
• Sidney Powell was involved
  
• The Secret Service was involved
  
• 147 House Republicans voted against certifying the election
  
• 9 Senate Republicans voted against certifying (a purely ceremonial task, at that point)
  

I mean, in a perfect world, ALL of these people would be up against a wall for treason.  That's what they did.  It's not just Trump, it's 2/3 of serving Republicans.

Will Merrick Garland have the balls to decimate the Republican party... in an election year?

Statute of limitations is, what, five years?  If Dems sweep the 2022 mid-terms, they'll have three years to decimate the Republicans. (And it won't be political in nature...)

If Republicans win in 2022, all this goes away forever.

Internecine warfare.  "Better fasten your seatbelts, we're in for a bumpy ride..."

NoCoPilot wrote:

Recent revelations about the Secret Service having purposely deleting subpoenaed texts about January 6 reveal an interesting dynamic.

Many SS agents (oh Jesus, I never noticed THAT irony before!) were intensely loyal to DJT.  The head of his detail was even hired away from the SS to become his private aide (a first in history, and of dubious legality).  During the insurrection an unknown number of them -- including apparently management -- were actively working on the insurrectionists' side.

At what point does "protecting the president" become "protecting the Presidency" and not "protecting the man"?  How far can loyalty go?  When your life depends on someone -- when that person is expected to lay down his life for you -- can you require that agents break with their protectee if he breaks the law?

Obama had to fire his entire detail because they weren't loyal.

Trump's detail is turning out to be a little TOO loyal.

And, let's not forget, as an ex-president he still has a full-time detail.

And oh my god the DOD. Once the dust settles from this thing, there'll be bodies everywhere.

NoCoPilot wrote:

And what a fucking dickless coward Richard Cheney is.  He hasn't said ONE WORD to publicly defend his daughter, for choosing democracy over tyranny.

Okay, yay?  Dickless Dick finally finds his voice, and sticks up for his daughter. Only took three years!

Money corrupts, and big money corrupts bigly. How can anybody compete with this? Chances are, the money isn't even coming from a US donor (thank you Citizens United!) and buying foreign influence in our elections is the last stage before democracy dies.

I don't know what can be done about this. Public funding of campaigns, strict campaign spending limits, yes -- but the people who would need to initiate this are the same people currently benefiting from the old corrupt system.

Lindsay Graham is trying desperately to save his ass.

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The emergency request was filed with Justice Clarence Thomas, who oversees the 11th Circuit. Thomas is likely to refer the matter to the full court.

Bet he doesn't.

Told ya

If somebody doesn't move to impeach this motherfucker and jail his wife for sedition, the world isn't round anymore.

Thomas's corruption of the process throws a spotlight on the cancer that infects the GOP.  In a few key positions, in a few key inflection points, they have put in place operatives who will overturn the normal checks and balances to install the results desired by the few billionaire donors.

The GOP is hollowed out from the inside.  I'm not sure surgery is possible anymore.  There may not be enough good healthy tissue left.

I know you don't like links to Twitter (et al), but this is a Republican operative saying it out loud - on video.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1590771129681342464

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In a letter to his colleagues, [Rick] Scott argued that Republicans need to be “far more bold and resolute than we have been in the past. We must start saying what we are for, not just what we are against.”

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Earlier this year, Scott introduced a controversial plan that called for raising taxes on the poor and reauthorizing Social Security and Medicare every five years. Democrats seized on the proposal and used it to attack Republicans all over the country.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rick-scott-challenge-mitch-mconnell-gop-leader_n_6373fdbfe4b07a02ca7d069b

Yeah, that's a real winning strategy, Rick .... you fucking moron.

Now that the radical right has won the House, for the next two years we can expect:

• Zero legislation that benefits the country
  
• Numerous bills that restrict women's rights (all failing in the Senate)
  
• Numerous bills that benefit billionaire donors (all failing in the Senate)
  
• Non-stop investigations of Hunter Biden
  
• Non-stop investigations of Joe Biden
  
• Several attempts to impeach Joe Biden* (all failing in the Senate)
  
• Several attempts to fund a southern border wall  (all failing in the Senate)
  
• At least one attempt to enshrine Christianity as the state religion (failing in the Senate)
  
• Interminable in-fighting between the Freedom Caucus and the rest of the GOP
  
• Including several attempts to replace McCarthy as Speaker with a FC nutjob
  
• Numerous attempts to repeal popular Obama & Biden accomplishments -- ACA, ARP, BIL, BBBA, IRA, PACT, CHIPS, BSCA (all failing in the Senate)
  
• Elevation of some real nut jobs to plum committee assignments (Gaetz, Green, Bohbert)
  
• Numerous attempts to derail the various legal cases against the Orange Menace (all failing)
  
• In short, total gridlock, clusterfuck and posing for Fox News
  

* - The Democrats would be smart to let one of them succeed!

First up:

• Investigate Hunter Biden
  

However, like the Clinton Whitewater investigation, like the Clinton Troopergate investigation, like the Clinton Vince Foster investigation, like the Clinton Gennifer Flowers investigation, this one will come up dry.  

Oh, they'll "discover" that Hunter had a problem with alcoholism -- which he has readily admitted -- which they'll try to milk into a huge international scandal, taking two years, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, and (they hope) generating buckets of bad ink for Joe.

And totally ignoring the DOZENS of legitimate ongoing investigations into serious, obvious and readily identifiable crimes committed by his predecessor.

Cochise County in rural Arizona refused today to certify the results of the 2022 midterm election. They missed the state imposed deadline for doing so.

If they haven’t certified by December 8, when the whole state certifies the election results, the state may simply decide to ignore the results out of Cochise County, disenfranchise tEnd of thousands of voters.

Heavily Republican voters.

Loss of their votes could actually change the outcome of some races. Some Republicans who won could actually see their victories snatched away and given to Democrats who were close behind.

Hah.

Perjury Taylor Greene says if she'd been the one planning January 6 they would've been better armed, and "would have won."

If she's allowed to stay in Congress after this there is no hope for the GOP.

Trey Goudy says the Republicans have "an investigative agenda" in the new Congress.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trey-gowdy-republicans-election-denial-math-never-strong-suit_n_639703b0e4b09e0de494a2e2

Does he really think voters want them to spend the next two years investigating the past two? What a compleat idiot.

Newly-elected NY Representative George Santos is going to be investigated for his many lies leading up to the election. Padding his resume and education and ethnic heritage don't bother me nearly as much as...

The fact that Santos reported an income of $55,000 the year BEFORE he ran, and an net worth of $11-15 million the year he ran. Who bought him?

Tomorrow Tuesday January 3 will see a vote on Kevin McCarthy for SOTH.  He's widely expected not to have the votes -- the first time that's happened in a hundred years.

Who will emerge to challenge him?  The Insurrection Caucus wants a far-right ideologue, somebody like Paul Gosar or Steve Scalise or Jim Jordan or Scott Perry or Andy Biggs or Matt Gaetz.  None of them would have sufficient votes outside the MAGA wing to win either.  The MAGAts are happy just to throw sand in the gears; they have no other agenda.

Expect the House to be tied up in knots for most of January, if not longer.  There is no unity among the deeply divided GOP, and once indictments start coming against the ORC the party will start shapeshifting again.  I'm expecting chaos for a couple years minimum, with lots of infighting and nothing getting done.

That bodes well for Democrats to take back the House in '24.

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House Republicans held a New Year’s Day call on the rules package on Sunday afternoon. After the call, a group of nine hard-line conservatives released a letter saying that McCarthy’s response does not adequately meet their standard for the motion to vacate the chair and said he did not address a request for leadership to not work to defeat conservatives in open primaries.

Members signing the letter included Perry along with Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), Andy Harris (R-Md.) and Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) and Reps.-elect Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) and Eli Crane (R-Ariz.). That group notably does not include the five members considered to be “Never Kevin” opponents: Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Bob Good (R-Va.), Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.).

McCarthy needs a majority of all those voting for a Speaker candidate on Jan. 3 to secure the post, and in a slim 222 to 212 majority, he can afford to lose only four GOP votes. A vote on the rules package will happen only after the House elects a Speaker.