On Thursday House Republicans told you who they were, in no uncertain terms. I suggest that we believe them. Here is a succinct summary of what they revealed about what they’ve degenerated to in the Fall of 2021.
Steve Bannon scammed Republican elected officials own voters stealing their money to build a fake wall.
And yet 90% of the caucus has been so cucked by Bannon that they are happy to give him carte blanche to break the law. What a pathetic and cowardly bunch. https://t.co/A1HQivBEjI
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) October 21, 2021
I don’t disagree with Tim Miller for a minute. I’m just more cynical than he is, apparently. I was actually impressed that there were that many that voted yes.
And it gets worse. You know it does. Listen to Charlie Sykes describe how Donald Trump is actively doing “revisionist history” and how “the day will come when he demands January 6 be celebrated, even though police officers lost their lives.”
"The Republicans have made a clear, clear decision with the exception of the nine, that they're either going to ignore, or they're going to go along with Trump who is now rather aggressively engaging in revisionist history" – @SykesCharlie w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/i8v6MOs8Wq
— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) October 21, 2021
This is not some small deal. This shows you how we are losing democracy inch by inch. Select Committee Chair Bennie Thompson said that if his colleagues voted against enforcing the subpoena, “You are saying to all future men and women who are called before this body that they can ignore a subpoena from Congress without consequence. The consequences of that vote won’t be limited to this investigation and this subpoena alone.” A negative vote would cause “serious long-lasting damage to Congress.”
The Republicans don’t care. They’re fine with undermining congressional authority and democracy, evidently. Now one non vote that is worthy of our attention, and it’s not getting a lot of press for some reason, is that the only abstaining member of the House was Greg Pence, Mike Pence’s brother, whom the rioters were threatening to hang that day and they had a gallows outside to do it. There’s a profile in courage for you. Greg Pence joined the other congressmembers in deciding that Steve Bannon was a hill worth dying on. I would say “unbelievable” but this is the new subnormal.
And if you thought we just hit rock bottom here, you would be wrong. It.Gets.Worse.Still. Look at what Jim Banks did.
This goes beyond childishly transparent, this is rank insanity. Liz Cheney introduced this letter into evidence during the debate on the Bannon vote. Jim Banks is no more the “ranking member” of the Committee than you or I are. Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t let him on the committee after he openly announced his plans to obstruct its work. Later on a spokesperson for Banks pivoted and deflected about the letter, saying, “This is a bizarre Democrat narrative meant to distract from the actual contents of Rep. Banks’ letter and to avoid talking about the actual activities of the Select Committee, which are partisan, authoritarian and indefensible,” according to Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter yesterday.
The mind reels. It simply reels. And the thing that is the most horrifying about it is that the most accurate denunciation of these un-American actions are coming from other Republicans, the few that have remained sane and declined taking the kool aide.
As I have said before, we will see what the GOP metamorphizes into. Right now it’s even money whether Trump will continue to rule the GOP or whether some neo conservative party of some sort can rise from the ashes, as the Republican party rose from the remains of the Whigs.
One thing is for sure: if the historical model of the party out of power in the White House gaining control of one or both chambers of congress in the 2022 elections remains consistent, we might well be looking at the death knell of democracy.
That is not hyperbole. Not on these facts, where you have congessmembers cringing, afraid to vote for justice even when their own flesh and blood is involved and issuing missives to government departments containing bald faced lies. The letter is a case of certain members of Congress attempting an end run around the January 6 Committee, rather than work with them. That is not democracy. Yet the vast majority of House Republicans are just fine with it. That’s the message they sent yesterday. That’s the scary part.
Maybe we should show the documentaries of where Fascism goes. Hitler’s death squads went village to village. First they rounded up all the men & boys & shot them in front of the women & girls. Don’t know how many of those women & girls were raped, but they stripped them, lined them up in front of trenches & shot all of them. I know I come across a little intense at times, but what will it take for folks to understand what we’re dealing with? If these fascists get control of the most powerful government in the world, please tell me they won’t start committing atrocities. Hell. They stormed the capital killing people, & threatened to hang their own. If you folks don’t think Trump will round up his enemies, you are fucking crazier than he is. Not to mention dooming the world after they push us past the tipping point of climate disaster. This is war. No one except the evil death cults wants war. Sometimes you have no choice. This is one of those times.
They should, at the very least, censure Banks for lying about being on the committee and claiming to be doing something he is in no position to do.
Secretary Haaland should inform Mr Banks that she has no intention of providing any documents to him or any member of his party who is NOT an active member of the House Select Committee and, if he wants, he’s more than welcome to subpoena her for the records and she will give the subpoena as much consideration as Steve Bannon did. (And, if it were me, I’d ask him to remind me how *HE* voted on whether or not to hold Bannon in contempt of Congress. Stabbing is always effective but twisting the knife makes the injury that much more severe.)
Anyone who thinks I peddle hyperbole in my above comment, go on over to Huffpost & listen to the violent threats made against Eric Salwell & his family to be “chopped up & fed to dogs”, complete with plenty of n words etc. All inspired by the little rich boys Trump & Carlson, WHO NEVER HAD TO WORK A DAY IN THEIR LIVES, & being cowards, would never say things like that in person to anyone. This is war people. Sure, maybe despite everything, the 93 MILLION lazy asshats will get off their collective asses & vote. If not, prepare for tyranny. THEN WHAT ARE YOU PREPARED TO DO???? Think it can’t possibly happen here? That’s interesting. The nice educated Germans thought the same exact thing in 1930.
This is horrific to say, but it’s almost too bad the tRump mob didn’t get their hands on Pence. Maybe THAT would have shocked some of these asshats (and more of the nation) into realizing how far over the edge they’ve gone. It certainly would have halted any of this revisionist BS.
It’s also too bad, and I’ve said this before, that the defenders of democracy didn’t take out more than Ashli Babbett. So many were deserving.
Scott Jackson-they won’t EVER ‘get it’. When you ask why they can’t see where this is going you are projecting your sanity and your intelligence onto a group of people completely brain washed by Fox News. these people are DESPERATE to believe that this fantasyland they live in is true. They won’t EVER see Trump foe who he really is b/c that would require them to acknowledge they were conned by Trump and Republicans. To admit being conned would bring up other horrible feelings such as ‘if I was conned by Trump and the GOP, what else have I been conned about?’ Like maybe religion or the existence of God and these people don’t have the capacity to deal with anything like that. Remember when Fox tried to tell them the ‘Big Lie’ was a big lie? They became outraged and boycotted Fox News for even further RW media. They are DESPERATE to believe their fantasy world is true. The only way to get them to see reality is to get them to stop watching RE media and stop getting info from crazy RW media outlets and conspiracy sites. That is just not going to happen. All we can do is take part in local, state and National democratic activism to get as many people out to vote as possible. Hope that Trump follows thru and tells his moronic followers to stay home and not vote and that the more educated republicans vote against Trumpism. But make no mistake. There won’t be any awakening in Trumpland.
True enough. ” it’s easier to fool people than it is to convince them they’ve been fooled” mark twain ahhh…therein lies the rub
Radical, non-coherent RW mouthpieces like the pig breath top names on FOX continue to spout poisonous BS … with NO controls in place …
Trump IS guilty as hell as the the top incentive figurehead for the 01/06 disaster, however, these smucks on Fox News are easily the bellows fanning the flames of insurrection …
Tucker the fucker spews a continuous vile lie storm against Biden and others that are trying to do right by the US citizens, in spite of tons of BS flowing un-checked from these mind-bending voices … this propaganda of doom was the biggest weapon in the days of Hitler … They took control of all media, shaping Hitler’s god-like respect by people that were not strong enough to resist the mob-like wave of NAZI control …