The headline might have seemed absurd in another era, even just four years ago but in this era of Trump Cultism, Orwellian Doublethinking is a norm in the GOP.
It probably isn’t surprising to most Americans that the GOP has become nothing more than a propaganda tool for a criminal enterprise. They no longer serve any functional purpose as a legislative entity. In fact, their legislative leader, Mitch McConnell has bragged about fulfilling his position as Senate Majority leader by being “The Grim Reaper”, killing nearly all legislation from ever being passed. That is not what Americans vote for and expect their representatives to do, they want Congress to work for them but Republicans use tribalism to justify their opposition to a functional democracy.
They are now devoid of principles. Republicans have crossed off of their list almost all of their “issues”. Patriotism and standing up to Russia? Opposing increasing deficits? The separation of powers and Congress’ checks and balances over the Presidency?
The Republican Party has been hollowed out like a Jack O’Lantern and the leering face carved into it is that of Donald J. Trump.
Today’s farce and lawbreaking by 30 or so Republican House members, led by noted drunk driver Matt Gaetz and including infamous, raving racist Steve King, to storm into the SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) in which House committees were conducting their impeachment inquiry, was a continuation of Trump’s assault on America’s system of justice.
Following in the shoes of their criminal Republican reader who this week proclaimed that the Constitutional law of emoluments is “phony”, this all-white Republican posse crashed into lawful impeachment hearings to do what they could to burn it down. Though reflecting their hollowness, instead of burning a cross as white mobs who take the law into their own hands have done in the past, they brought pizza so these tough little men wouldn’t go hungry if they had to spend hours breaking the law to stop House members from investigating lawbreaking by their leader.
The Republicans engaged in this stunt broke multiple laws in the process. They brought their cell phones into a SCIF, destroying its security, which is a crime. And they disrupted the lawful duties of a committee which is also a criminal offense, though not as serious as compromising security.
Remember how Republicans dealt with disruption in a hearing where a woman merely laughed at a testimony of lies about Jeff Sessions?
A Jury Just Convicted a Woman for Laughing at Jeff Sessions
On Wednesday, a jury convicted a 61-year-old female activist who had laughed during Sessions’s January confirmation hearing in the Senate. Desiree Fairooz, a longtime protester affiliated with the anti-war group Code Pink, had been escorted out of the room for laughing in response to Senator Richard Shelby’s assertion that Sessions had a “clear and well-documented” history of “treating all Americans equally under the law.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/05/jeff-sessions-protester-charged-laughing
This was in a public hearing, open to the public. There was no criminal violation as with Republicans today, regarding security. It didn’t shut down the hearing or delay it more than a moment. And yet, Republicans came down as hard on Ms. Fairooz as if she was a violent criminal.
It has become matter-of-fact that Republicans are complete and utter hypocrites. That is their brand now. They are howling now about the rules they used for private hearings against Hillary Clinton in their countless Benghazi lunacy because Democrats are using them. The hypocrisy now has devolved to, “No fair! Only Republicans get to use those rules!”
And it is not lost on many that in the face of overwhelming evidence of Trump committing crimes and impeachable offenses against his own country’s laws and his oath of office, the only Republican protest is that they’re not being allowed to cover up his crimes.
This is what the GOP is today. They see themselves as above-the-law. Just a rogue political private security force under the rule of their Great Leader, serving only him and no longer the rule of law, their oath of office or the people they represent. They prove again today, the GOP has become a wholly corrupt and decayed shell of a political party.
Their only approach to being corrupt now is to take whatever steps they can to deceive the public about their corruption as opposed to cleaning it up. They break laws without concern, they lie with abandon, they merely operate in tribal terms without any conscience or principle guiding them.
They are, as a group, nihilists and sociopaths, unhesitating in unleashing greater destruction of our democracy and society in the pursuit of one thing, power.
These Republicans should be charged with violating the laws that they have broken, far more serious than Ms. Fairooz acted while she was criminally prosecuted and convicted. The members of the Trump Administration who have violated the law by refusing to obey subpoenas should also be financially sanctioned and jailed by Congress, as Susan McDougal was imprisoned for 18 months for refusing to testify after being subpoenaed in the Whitewater investigation of Bill Clinton.
The criminality and casual lawbreaking of the Trump GOP needs to be stopped and punishment is the only way. Sometimes Democrats can be too intellectual, to prone to reasoning away proper action, primarily out of unfounded fear of the consequences (remember when one of Democratic leadership’s big arguments against impeachment was that the public would turn on them and support Trump as happened with Bill Clinton when he was impeached? That the public needed to support impeachment first or it would damage Democrats?).
The argument against holding Trump’s cronies in inherent contempt, which gives the right to financially sanction and jail those who show contempt of Congress to The House itself (not needing the corrupt DoJ to enforce or prosecute), is another overboard worry by Dems who make lawbreaking worse by allowing it.
They should see that since they began a real impeachment inquiry, a majority of the public has supported them AND it has prevented at least some further lawbreaking. Trump would never have reversed himself on awarding himself a multi-million dollar contract to host the G7 at his Doral resort, a clear violation of the emoluments clause in The Constitution, if he wasn’t worried by it adding to the impeachment process underway.
This criminal operation known as The GOP needs to be “arrested”, they need to be stopped from continuing their lawbreaking. Democrats are doing what seems to be a brilliant job in confronting Trump’s criminality through their impeachment inquiry, they need to enforce the law as well to discourage further lawbreaking by Republicans in Congress as well.
And of course, they need to be defeated and stripped of their power in 2020 if America is to return to being a just nation where no one is above the law.
HALF of Americans STILL don’t believe Trump should be impeached. It begs the question, does a UNITED States of America actually exist? Are there principles that are more important than our own self interest, greed and prejudices? HOW can ANYONE defend the President of The United States using the power of the office of the presidency to strongarm an ally or even to conspire with an adversary to interfere in the American democratic process? WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
The Mueller investigation is old news now. Over 90% of Republicans thought it was a witch hunt. Why? Because Trump told them it was a witch hunt. Now, we have heard Trump and some in his close circle ADMIT to a shakedown of Ukraine for Trump’s personal interest. YET, congressional Republicans and even some senate Democrats are hedging on the question when the press ask them if it is ok for Trump to shakedown Ukraine. The Honorable Elijah Cummings thought we are better than this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k3Bdry8cgs
The framers of the Constitution thought that “factions”, i.e., political parties COULD destroy our union.
https://www.history.com/news/founding-fathers-political-parties-opinion
In a way, we never really were a “United” States from the beginning. That’s what led to the Civil War, we started as a country with states in one of two camps, the pro-slavery South and the not-so-pro-slavery North. It’s not completely clear cut, there are people in both camps in every state but predominantly, we remain in the same Cold Civil War (that’s heated up recently) we’ve always been in.
Those primary divisions remain the major fault line in our country, they’ve never gone away, just become more or less inflamed from time to time. Now of course, we can see those divisions starkly.
One thing seems clear though, the GOP is a minority party about greed and power so they hold no principles. They lie and cheat in elections and in between. They are casual about their hypocrisy because “principles” are only weapons to use insincerely and conditionally. Nothing is actually morally or ethically wrong to them, they act solely on what benefits them and cover up their selfish motives by decrying “principle”.
Every issue they claim, they wail about a growing deficit unless they are the ones growing it. They’re pro-life when it can oppress woman but favor death for immigrants, prisoners, innocent civilians, etc. They support health care and protecting people with pre-existing conditions while supporting lawsuits and bargain health plans that eliminate both.
And on this impeachment inquiry, Dems are using the rules that Repubs used in Benghazi and Bill Clinton’s impeachment but the rules are “unfair” because only Repubs get to use rules when they’re in power.
The good news is that what remains of the GOP is only around a 38% minority of the country. The other 62% can end this madness and their abuse of power in 2020 and even if Trump isn’t removed, that 62% will have a clear choice of re-electing a proven criminal and enemy of America’s continuing democracy or disposing of him and electing a Dem who can help to repair 4 years of terrible damage to the country and world.
I am optimistic, the polls showing 55% of Americans support impeachment hearings and removal of Trump are affirming and I think the public hearings will make those numbers grow.
We may never be a completely United States but the country can be made better for everyone when the resentful, racist minority can be prevented from having much power.
I am encouraged by people like you. Even as a little black boy growing up in the south, I believed in what I thought the Constitution stood for. I knew I was not able at the time to experience the rights that white people had, but I was always optimistic that America was moving in that direction, and that one day I would have the same rights as everyone else.
However, now I am more concerned about the survival of this country than I have ever been. The mere fact that 35% to 40% of the people could elect a person like Trump as president is troubling. These people elected this person because he is the kind of person they are. Who are they? They are racists, bigots, misogynists, and they represent everything that is vile about human beings. I realize they have as much right to be here as I do, but if they represent the majority of Americans, then America is a vile nation.
I read this morning that FORTY conservative groups have filed grievances that Nancy Pelosi has weaponized the impeachment process and has encroached the separation of powers. They maintain that Congress ( or at least Democrats in Congress) have no right to investigate a Republican president, although they supported impeaching a Democratic president for lying under oath about a consensual extramarital affair. These people have no moral character, and no candidate for the nomination of the Democratic Party should even attempt to win their support for ANYTHING.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/40-conservative-groups-sign-ethics-complaint-against-pelosi/ar-AAJBKKG?ocid=spartandhp
I feel the same way, very encouraged, by your thoughtful and incisive views. It’s energizing to be reminded by others that you’re not among the few, we are the majority.
The problem is that we are painted a superficial and flattering picture of America in school that stays with us for a while, in some cases, never leaves their perspectives.
It’s a Photoshopped version of history, America as a place where anyone’s dreams can come true, of patriotism and respect for hard work, etc.
For instance, I doubt most Americans were taught about the Tulsa Race Riot in 1921. A dramatization of it appeared at the opening of The Watchmen and few people recognized that it was not fiction:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shw2-7uazc0
If they taught history honestly in schools, they couldn’t simultaneously present the idealized version of America that covers up the country we really live in.
An honest education for children would be to describe America as a country of constant conflict over race and social and religious beliefs. Yes, Americans can be shocked into unity when a Pearl Harbor or a 9/11 happens but by nature, America is a union of two warring “tribes”.
One tribe is authoritarian and race-driven white people. Whether it’s their religion, their belief in white superiority or their reverence for the party that panders to them by trying to make their prejudices and religion into laws all Americans must follow, they are the enemies of true democracy.
They support criminal behavior by their politicians, turn a blind eye to voter suppression of those who would vote for a different party, soliciting foreign interference in our elections, gerrymandering away the Constitutional right to be represented and in general, everything The Constitution enshrines as the core of a democracy.
Even now, they purposely brand the Constitutional power of Congress to impeach a corrupt, criminal and unfit president as, moronically, “unconstitutional”.
They are the cancer in this country. They are the ones fighting against taking steps to confront Climate Change, tens of thousands of gun deaths with legislation and they are such tribal reptile-minded types, they even support tariffs that rob them of their farms and tax cuts for the wealthy that rob them of their own wealth.
They will always be with us, there is no escaping the generationally-conditioned mentality that begins with racism and religious absolutism. They are the adversaries of a better nation and world.
The other “tribe” is actually a combination of many tribes. They consider the rights and concerns of many types of people because that is part of their constituency. They believe in democracy and that government can help people. They are tolerant of others because, again, they are composed and neighbors of others who are different from them.
They oppose injustice, wealth inequality, the environmental destruction of the planet, the right of every human being to get health care and so much more.
A simple but accurate way to describe each tribe/party is as Primal and Evolved.
The Primals operate on and make decisions based on emotions and conformity, are happily subservient to “a strong leader”, are insecure and intimidated by those who are different from them and have no principle standing between them and acting inhumanely to “defend” their insecurities.
The Evolved use reason to make decisions, are sympathetic to the difficulties of others, are uncomfortable blindly following leaders and stand on principle even when it cuts against their personal interests.
Neither type necessarily acts as described above 100% of the time and there are of course shades of gray in and in between each type but generally, that is what our ancestors lived with as we do and our children will.
As they say, the first thing you need to know to win a war is knowing you’re in one. In the 1960’s/1970’s Dems/liberals thought they had defeated the racists and the greedy, destructive corporations. What we didn’t learn until Reagan and the Bushs came along was that this is a neverending war.
We may win for a while, they may win for a while, but the war goes on and on.
At least, if we are armed with this realistic vision of America, we can be much better prepared and vigilant to win again and prevent a beast like Trump from ever again seizing the power of the American people.
I could not agree more. Although effectively addressing climate change, which is a global problem, the most crucial social problems facing the USA are racism and the private banking/monetary system. ALL of these issues require integrity and transparency. Traditionally, we have not exhibited a lot of either.
I am somewhat encouraged by the younger generations as far as coming to grips with racism and sexism. I am less optimistic about addressing the banking/monetary system because the overwhelming majority of the people don’t understand it and when they are told the truth about it, they think the truth is a conspiracy theory.
Henry Ford had more faith in the “people of the nation” than I do.
Excellent piece. It occurred to me that you are using language, and tone, in several places that hardly would have been printable even just a year ago; as when you point out that the doj is corrupt.
I applaud you. I think that we may be starting a new “Dialogue.” There once was a “Great Dialogue” in which all “Western” men participated. You might call that a “withered vine.” Maybe we can graft a new growth on the old. We have strong roots.
There’s one thing that I might add to your conclusion: We can’t just get rid of the old, bad blood; we have to at least begin to make things right; not “again,” but “finally.” We Democrats have to deliver – this time. Or pack up and go home. And just turn the world over to the tribalist hate mongers and their slavish followers. We have to make long-range plans, and set goals. Together, somehow. We have to do the things that we always knew were needed; like accessible healthcare, qualify education, sunlight in government; and we have to put an end to this corruption that is epidemic and rampant.
If we can kill the cancer – Trump – then we have to start thinking about what it means to be well.
Thanks so much, Steppenwolf!
I agree with your thoughts, I do think we can build a more frank level of discussion about what we’re really facing right now. There simply isn’t time for over-politeness when dealing with such urgent and serious issues. I do think it’s important in an emergency, and while some may not feel we are in one, we clearly are, to cut right to the realities to deal with them as quickly as possible.
True, Democrats can’t say whatever is politically advantageous just to come into power then neglect all the pressing needs of the people. A lot of time and energy needs to be spent on repairing the Trump damage (maybe a new, temporary Department of American Renewal will need to be set up to focus on repairing our society) but also on the urgent issues of health care, Climate Change, economic injustice, voter suppression, racism and bigotry, women’s rights, etc.
Getting rid of Trump will not be enough, he could run again in the next election, or Ivanka or Don Jr. could and win if Dems don’t prove they can get things done that help most people in the country.
Great post, Ad. Best line ever: “The Republican party has been hollowed out like a Jack O’Lantern and the leering face carved into it is that of Donald J. Trump.”
Dems need to make sure that this political stunt today does not go unpunished. I cannot believe how low repubs are willing to go to protect a treasonous, lying bully! The people in Congress are supposed to be the leaders of our country, yet these cretinous cowards have no leadership, no morality, no shame, no understanding, nor any loyalty to our Constitution.
We must never forget, nor let the Republican party and its followers forget, how willing they are and were to not just overlook, but actually defend treason, corruption, and criminality.
Thanks so much, glenn!
That is clearly how I feel too. Dems were wrong with all their made-up blowback about how impeachment would be bad for Dems and turn the public against them and towards Trump.
They’re wrong here too if they think punishing these Repub lawbreakers would distract from impeachment, help them by making them martyrs or whatever BS they make up to once again avoid protecting the country as a nation of laws.
They should be more confident in standing on principle of right and wrong after the majority support growing daily for impeachment.
It was proven true today, it’s not just rhetoric, the GOP has been swallowed up by corruption and no longer exists as a law-abiding, political party with a set of principles.
They are hollow which is why it’s so easy for Trump to fill them with his bile. There’s nothing decent left in the GOP, it needs to be reduced to a minority party for decades, as they were in Congress in the past.
Hopefully, Dems who won in states in 2018 and those who win in 2020 will use the new redistricting to destroy gerrymandering in Swing States, a Dem president and Congress will pass Voting rights legislation and put the worst violating states on a short leash on voting restrictions, fix elections so all states use paper ballots and reign in the power of dark money and social media giants taking money from corrupt forces.
Then, as the tricks of the minority party that the GOP is, are destroyed and blocked, they’ll have one path left, to reform into a legit party or fade away into irrelevancy.