Republicans – Page 2

Maybe What Democrats Need Is A Mitch McConnell?

February 14, 2021 By John DeProspo 6 Comments

I can’t stand the guy. Yet, I’m in awe of his genius … his evil genius. Machiavelli has nothing on old Mitch McConnell.

There he was yesterday accusing Donald Trump of being guilty as sin just moments after voting to acquit him of what Liz Cheney called the greatest “betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”

In a devastating takedown rivaling the closing arguments made by the House impeachment managers, McConnell tore into Trump for his “disgraceful dereliction of duty” saying, “There is no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.”

So how could McConnell not vote to convict Trump?

Here is where the evil mastermind’s cleverness comes in. Mitch voted to acquit Trump because he didn’t believe the Senate had the power to convict a president out of office. Of course, we all know that scenario came about only because McConnell refused to hold the Senate impeachment trial while Trump was still in office. Sheer brilliance!

McConnell knew that the only way his Republican colleagues could vote against convicting Trump was on technical grounds, no matter how phony, as the facts of the January 6 Capitol riot were never really in dispute. So, McConnell provided the cover … and 42 of his fellow Republican comrades, voting to give Trump a pass, wrapped themselves in the warm blanket of Mitch’s duplicity.

But McConnell’s speech after the Senate’s acquittal vote showed even more of his shrewdness.

It has been reported that McConnell wants Trump gone and out of the way. But he could not let his fellow Republicans do the job for fear of angering Trump’s loyal base.

“President Trump is still liable for everything he did while in office,” McConnell said. “He didn’t get away with anything yet. We have a criminal justice system in this country.”

There you have it. Let someone else (state attorneys general, the Justice Dept) do the dirty work!

While Trump might be the most corrupt president in U.S. history, can there be any doubt Mitch McConnell is among the more cunning, devious political leaders ever to hold public office?

Photo | AP Photo/Susan Walsh/dcist.com

No Unity Is Possible Until Republicans Renounce Their Support Of The “Big Lie”

January 13, 2021 By John DeProspo 3 Comments

During today’s impeachment hearing, many House Republicans called for national unity. A good number of those Republicans are the same ones who fanned Trump’s false claim that the presidential election was stolen from him … that Joe Biden was not the lawfully elected next president of the United States.

How can we come together as a nation when nearly 70% of Republicans believe the “Big Lie?” How can we move on with the business of the country when a large number of Republican representatives and a handful of senate Republicans are still peddling the “Big Lie?” How can we restore faith in our democracy, and the Constitution, when 197 out of 207 Republican House members refused to honor their oath and vote for Trump’s impeachment?

Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern, chair of the House Rules Committee, said today during his closing remarks, “We will never have unity without truth and also without accountability.” He chided his Republican colleagues for their hypocritical pleas for unity.

“Some of my Republican friends have been trying to lecture us about unity here today — unity after they voted to overturn a free and fair election in the United States of America, but also preaching unity and not acknowledging that for four years many of them gave oxygen to Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories,” McGovern said.

The fact is that a majority of Republican voters firmly … and fervently … believe the election was rigged. They accept the false notion that Trump votes were not counted or somehow changed to Biden votes. They believe scores of dead people voted for Biden. Many are pledging to never accept or acknowledge Joe Biden as their duly elected president.

It will be hard to dissuade these Trump voters of the many conspiracy theories fed them by Trump and his willing accomplices … Congressional Republicans and right-wing media outlets. Many believe so strongly in the “Big Lie” that they traveled miles to be part of the mob that stormed the Capitol last week, some claiming they were the true patriots willing to die for their country and the Constitution.

A necessary first step in bringing about national unity is for us all to be on the same page when it comes to the essential truth about the 2020 election.

The 2020 presidential election was “the most secure in American history.” This assessment was put out in a joint statement by the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Those Republican senators (I’m looking at you Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley) and House Republicans (yes, you Jim Jordon and Mo Brooks) need to do the right thing and speak the truth to those misguided and misinformed Republican voters. Fox News has to do some soul searching and try to walk back some of its loyal viewers from the ledge. They all have to own up to their role in spreading the “Big Lie” which led directly to the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

I know, I know, keep dreaming!

The said truth is that even if this were in the realm of possibility, it might not be enough to get through to those ardent Trump loyalists who would no doubt brand any Republican who dares tell the truth, and attack the “Big Lie,” as a traitor or a RINO.

Yet, do you see any other way?

Photo | AP/J.Scott Applewhite

Turns Out The Party Of “Law And Order” Believes In Neither

January 3, 2021 By John DeProspo 6 Comments

As far back as I can remember, Republicans have been the party of “law and order.” At least that is how they billed themselves starting back in the days of Nixon.

A popular bumper sticker of the time, directed at the 60’s anti-Viet Nam war protesters, was “America … Love It Or Leave It.” If you were a patriot, you supported the unjust and senseless war. If you were for ending the bloodshed, you were an anti-American, unpatriotic commie anarchist.

As was brilliantly depicted in the movie The Trial of the Chicago Seven, the protesters were the real patriots of the time, not Nixon and his attorney general who sought to imprison those protesters simply for exercising their First Amendment rights.

On Tuesday, at least 11 GOP senators and as many as 140 House GOP representatives have vowed to vote against certifying Joe Biden’s Electoral College win. This act can only be seen as a clear attempt to overturn the vote of the American people and is nothing short of sedition.

As stated by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D), “This pathetic, opportunistic stunt is an attack on our democracy. It’s un-American & unconscionable. Votes have been counted, recounted, certified, & all challenges totally discredited.”

When it comes time for arguments at the January 6^th meeting of the Electoral College, Democrats need to take off the gloves. They need to call those Republicans who refused to follow precedent, and the Constitution, what they are … un-American, unpatriotic, seditionists.

Shamefully, Mike Pence, who will be presiding over the Electoral College vote, has stated, through his spokesperson, that he “welcomes the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use the authority they have under the law to raise objections and bring forward evidence before the Congress and the American people.”

As Paul Rosenberg recently noted in salon.com, “Fundamentalism and authoritarianism pushed the Republicans from low-grade mendacity into a threat to democracy.”

Democrats need to forcefully stand up for our democracy on Tuesday. They need to get over this silly idea of making “nice-nice” with the opposition and reaching out across the aisle. Those that would teardown American democracy, and the United States Constitution, are traitors of the first order.

It would be refreshing to see at least one Democrat rise on Tuesday and throw back to his Republican colleagues that infamous 60’s argument, “America … love it or leave it.”

Photo | washingtonpost.com

Is America’s Love Affair With Stupidity Waning?

April 3, 2020 By John DeProspo 4 Comments

Americans, particularly Republicans, have a long, rich history of electing dimwits as their leaders.

Of course, there is the former representative from Minnesota, Michele Bachmann, who once said, “But we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States. … I think it is high time that we recognize the contribution of our forbearers who worked tirelessly — men like John Quincy Adams, who would not rest until slavery was extinguished in the country.”

You have the senior senator from Oklahoma, James Inhofe, who brought a snowball to the Senate floor in order to disprove global warming.

Then there’s the former vice president, Dan Quayle, who could not correctly spell potato.

And how can one forget the former Governor of Alaska, and self-proclaimed Mama Grizzly, Sarah Palin, who once said, “Mr. President, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke.”

Just yesterday you had the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, claiming he only recently learned the coronavirus could be spread by asymptomatic carriers. “But we didn’t know that until the last 24 hours and as Dr. Toomey told me, she goes, ‘this is a game-changer for us.'”

But here’s the thing, some of the comments on Foxnews.com, that reported the Kemp story, were downright un-Foxlike!

Here’s a sampling:

I’m a Repub, but this guy is an idiot.

Stacey Abrams had a degree in Public Policy which would have prepared her for this. And then got her law degree from Yale. Kemp majored in Agriculture and was basically a farmer before he became governor Good choice Georgians

Really??? Did I just read that insanity correctly??? If so, this guy and his entire staff are absolute failures.

This clown seriously can’t be that much of an IDIOT? How fast can he be recalled?

Wow, not the kind of comments you’d expect from Fox News consumers!

Writing for the Washington Post, conservative columnist, Jennifer Rubin wrote:

At a more fundamental level, the coronavirus pandemic should stanch the urge to elect political leaders who disparage expertise, deny widely accepted scientific findings and do not read. The right’s anti-intellectual bent and its hostility toward independent sources of information (e.g., media, universities, scientific associations) is dangerous and, indeed, life-threatening.

Maybe, just, maybe, Republicans have had it with electing incompetent numbskulls to high office?

Photo | ecowatch.com

Coronavirus Proves Highly Resistant To Political Spin

March 15, 2020 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

Donald Trump knows only one way of handling a vexing problem … to knowingly downplay the situation and offer an alternative, biased interpretation of the “facts” in order to sway public opinion in his direction.

And so it was with the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Trump went from claiming the Democrats were making the coronavirus “their new hoax” to saying “it will go away.”

As the outbreak was worsening, Trump kept downplaying the potential for the virus to spread throughout the U.S., even suggesting without scientific evidence, that the number of cases would soon decrease.

At a news conference only 10 days ago, Trump said the number of cases “within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. That’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”

“We’re going very substantially down, not up,” Trump added.

Of course, this couldn’t have been further from the truth. The number of confirmed infections, and deaths, only continues to increase.

As one might expect, and surveys bear out, Democrats take the gravity of this pandemic more seriously than do Republicans.

And, according to Jennifer Rubin, Republicans are doing so at their own peril.

Appearing on MSNBC’s “AM Joy”, the Washington Post conservative columnist said the daily drumbeat of misinformation coming from the White House and Fox News that has downplayed the coronavirus pandemic will likely lead to more deaths among Republicans than Democrats.

Taking aim at the Fox News propaganda machine, Rubin offered, “Here is a particular cruelty/irony that it is their core viewers, the Republican older viewers, who are the most at risk. And when you think about it, which party immediately canceled all of their rallies? Which party immediately started having their political figures really portray and use their lies as an example? It was the Democrats.”

Some may cynically wonder if this isn’t just another example of Darwin’s theory of evolution (survival of the fittest).

No matter how much Trump and his sycophants wish otherwise, the coronavirus pandemic is here; it is spreading. And like gravity, it’s a fact that can not be politically spun.

Photo | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

Dems Take Trump Acquittal To Court Of Appeals … The American People

February 7, 2020 By John DeProspo 6 Comments

Now that the United States Senate has voted to keep our lawless president in office; now that the courts have shown a reluctance to interfere in what they see as political disputes … it is up to the American people to render the ultimate verdict by voting Trump out of office in November.

But even though a majority of Americans disapprove of Trump, such a simple and obvious strategy runs up against three obstacles.

First, will the Democrats nominate a strong candidate that can send Trump packing? For a while, it appeared they had such a candidate … Joe Biden. But after a poor fourth-place showing in Iowa, the Biden-as-the-Democratic-savior narrative is starting to fray. While many Democrats have a favorable opinion of the former VP, they wonder if he has the stuff to go head-to-head against perhaps the most vicious, hit-below-the-belt politician of all-time, Donald J. Trump. Many seem to have concluded that, at the age of 77, Biden simply does not have the fire in the belly to get the job done. While the fiery septuagenerian Bernie Sanders seems to have the momentum that can carry him to the nomination, many moderate Democrats worry he is too radical (god forbid, a democratic socialist who believes health care is a basic human right!) to win a national election.

Second, do most Americans even know what’s at stake in the upcoming election? Do they understand the Constitutional framework of three co-equal branches of government? Do they understand the Framers’ wise insistence on checks and balances between those three branches? Do they understand that our very democracy and the rule of law is on the line in 2020; that with Trump we are well on the road to an imperial presidency? It is hard to answer in the affirmative on any of these questions when 61% of all Americans cannot even name the three branches of government!

Third, and most important, can we rely on a free and fair election? Now that Trump has been given a pass on trying to extort a foreign government into meddling in our 2020 election, does anyone, other than Susan Collins, believe Trump has learned his lesson and will stop trying to cheat his way into office … again? Can we have any faith in a Department of Justice, run by Trump’s flunky, Willian Barr, to safeguard the integrity of our electoral system? Can the American people have any confidence in the election outcome, no matter which way it goes?

We keep hearing that this next election is the most important in our lifetime. It’s become an election-year cliché. But 2020 truly is the election which will determine whether or not our Constitution still matters … whether the rule of law still matters … and whether we, as a nation, will continue to strive towards that noble, yet elusive, goal of a more perfect union based on equal justice under the law.

Photo | voteosceola.com

Our Democracy Is Just A Frog In Slow Boiling Water

January 31, 2020 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

Our democracy is slowly slipping into fascism thanks to Trump and his Republican enablers. Will we realize we’re being cooked before it’s too late? Vote like the future of your country depends on it … because it does!

Photo | washington press/ occupy democrats

The Real Oath Senate Republicans Took Within Their Minds

January 29, 2020 By John DeProspo 3 Comments

The United States Senate likes to call itself “the world’s greatest deliberative body.” But as we are seeing with Trump’s impeachment trial, the only thing senators are doing is deliberately violating their oaths of office.

The Oath Act of June 1, 1789, was the first legislation passed by the Senate and the first law signed by President George Washington. It simply read: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States.”

Following the Civil War, the Oath was amended several times to now read:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

Besides the above oath taken by each senator-elect before assuming office, all 100 senators took the following special oath before the start of Trump’s impeachment trial:

“I solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of [Donald John Trump], now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: so help me God.”

We all know, because some have actually told us, not all Republican senators will be living up to their sacred oaths to do impartial justice.

I’m guessing while mindlessly mouthing their prescribed oaths, these were the words that actually registered within their brains:

“I solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump I will do all I can to exonerate him even though I will be presented with a mountain of incriminating evidence which will clearly show he violated his oath to the Constitution and laws: so help me my constituents.”

Of course, the more religious members of the Senate had their fingers crossed behind their backs while the impeachment oath was administered by Chief Justice John Roberts.

Photo | msnbc.com

Please, Let’s Stop Calling What’s Taking Place In The Senate A Trial

January 23, 2020 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

As we are all transfixed on the spectacle taking place in the Senate, let us not dignify it by calling it a trial.

The Constitution gives the Senate the sole power to try a case of impeachment. In other words, to hold a trial.

A trial by its very definition is a formal examination of evidence before a judge; an exercise in seeking the truth. The basic structure normally follows this pattern:

Opening statements
Witness testimony and cross examination
Closing arguments
Jury deliberation and verdict

What’s taking place in the Senate is not a trial but a partisan, and some might add, unconstitutional, impeachment process. Senate Republicans voted down every effort by the Democrats to call witnesses (and produce documents, for that matter).

As many have observed, a trial without witnesses is a sham; a coverup.

Oh yes, but aren’t they just following the Clinton impeachment model you ask?

Yes and no.

Yes, in the Clinton impeachment there was unanimous agreement among senators to vote on the need for witnesses after the trial concluded. But key witnesses had already given sworn testimony before the trial. The idea of not calling live witnesses during Clinton’s trial was mainly due to the salacious nature of the facts which gave rise to Clinton’s perjury.

But in Trump’s case, there is nothing indecent about any potential witness testimony … just plain old-fashioned abuse of power and obstruction.

House manager Adam Schiff put the difference between Trump and Clinton this way:

“If we’re really serious about modeling this proceeding after the Clinton trial, the Clinton precedent is one where all the documents had been provided, up front, where all the witnesses had testified, up front, prior to the trial. That is not being replicated by the McConnell resolution — not in any way, not in any shape, not in any form, far from it.

What the Senate is doing is flipping the meaning of “trial” on its head… conclude the presentation and then vote on whether witnesses and documents are necessary!

Look for Republican senators to vote down the need for witnesses at the end of the trial and for either a motion to dismiss or a quick vote leading to acquittal.

So, let’s just call what’s happening in the Senate what it is … a “presentation” by a group of Democrats seeking to uphold the Constitution and a group of Republicans willing to undermine our constitutional democracy.

Photo | nypost.com

As Senate Trial Nears, Trump Set To Call Three Character Witnesses

January 14, 2020 By John DeProspo Leave a Comment

Reprint from moronmajority.com

We learned today from Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, that Trump’s impeachment trial may start as early as next Tuesday.

Word has it Donald Trump’s legal team is scrambling to prepare his defense. At the suggestion of Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, three character witnesses will be called by Trump’s legal team to vouch for his good reputation and moral character: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un and Recep Erdogan.

Putin, it is being reported, is prepared to say Trump is the model of honesty and probity. In the past, Putin has called Trump, “Greatest U.S.A. president.”

Trump’s love affair with the Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, is well documented. It is expected Kim will repeat his description of Trump as “a most wonderful, handsome and loving dear leader.”

Turkey president Erdogan is also a big fan of Donald Trump. He called Trump, “Allah’s gift to Turkey” after the impulsive commander-in-chief abandoned our allies, the Kurds, in Syria.

Yet some are already questioning the Giuliani-inspired tactic. They point out the three men are obviously beholden to Trump for various favors afforded them in the past. And, oh yes, they are all despots!

Nonetheless, the three strongmen are held in such high esteem by nearly all the Republican senators who will act as jurors at Trump’s impeachment trial that it seems well worth the effort, according to one of Trump’s most trusted advisors, son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Photo | salon.com

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