Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Good lord, these people are nuts.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

In after Baud. Damn.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Repub Stupidity Open Thread: Dinesh D’Sousa Eats Another Bug

Repub Stupidity Open Thread: Dinesh D’Sousa Eats Another Bug

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Someone on twitter – Kevin Kruse? — suggested that D’Sousa might not be as stupid as he comes off, but he assumes that his marks are every bit stupid enough to pay him for acting as though he is.

My personal feeling is that D’Sousa remains the emotionally stunted middle-school kid who once ate a bug on a dare in the playground. The attention he garnered, however negative, convinced him he had One Amazing Trick that he could always fall back on. So, whenever he needs a quick attention-fix (otherwise known as ‘earned media’ or ‘free publicity’), he sidles over to Political Twitter and asks ‘Wanna see me eat a bug?… ‘

Worst of it is… he’s not wrong that Thunberg gets more media attention than an equivalent activist who looked like, for instance, Andrea Dworkin. Not because climate crusaders are quasi-Nazis, but because mainstream media would rather look at “pretty” people than those who are merely educated. For instance:

Reader Interactions

119Comments

  1. 1.

    cain

    Sigh. Never mind the whole “Come and take it” on her t-shirt is just suggestive to the testosterone driven right wingers.

  2. 2.

    chopper

    given how lousy FOX is with blonde white ladies, this whole ‘white blonde chicks are a symbol of naziism’ seems like an odd argument for him to make.

    then again, he is an idiot.

  9. 9.

    Adam L Silverman

    @cain: I’m curious as to your take on this. My impression of him is that he’s trying terribly hard, to the point of it is painful to watch, to pass and to be included by people that largely see him as just another brown person/person of color. His only path to acceptance with these folks is to outdo them in terms of their preferred ideological and theological and dogmatic preferences. And so the rest of us see him as pathetic because we recognize this performative attempt to be accepted by people that largely don’t have any use for people like him. Most likely the people he’s ingratiating himself with feel the same way, but for them it tickles the same neuroreceptors that are miswired so that cruelty is felt as pleasure.

  10. 10.

    joel hanes

    @cain:

    He makes all of us look bad.

    Not supposed to be how it works.
    But if we are judging groups by some members, I’ll use Ramanujan and Chandrasekhar and Bose and Gandhi.
    And the literally hundreds of excellent computer engineers I worked with over the years.

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    @chopper: Molson Labatts!

    Someone should really explain to these folks that the Spartiates had socially and legally mandated and enforced bisexuality and cuckoldry as the basis of their society rooted in the Lycurgan Codes.

  13. 13.

    Ben Cisco

    In other news:

    An Army soldier was arrested for allegedly passing on bomb-making instructions to fellow “radicals” and sought to blow up cell towers and news stations, authorities announced Monday.

    Pfc. Jarrett William Smith, 24, stationed out of Fort Riley in Kansas, was arrested Saturday and charged with one count of distributing information related to explosives and weapons of mass destruction, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said.

    And what manner of jihadist was this, you ask?

    In a chat Friday on the cloud-based instant messaging service Telegram, an undercover agent said he wanted to target a “liberal Texas mayor” for bombing and asked Smith if he had any other suggestions, according to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Brandon LaMar.

    “Outside of Beto?” Smith allegedly responded, in an apparent reference to Democratic presidential candidate and El Paso native Beto O’Rourke. “I don’t know enough people that would be relevant enough to cause a change if they died.”

    Smith is a native of Conway, South Carolina, and had previous stints at Fort Benning in Georgia and Fort Bliss in Texas, according to a U.S. Army spokesman.

    Iwwonder if this story got any play on the teevee machine…

  14. 14.

    satby

    And in answer to DiShithead’s tweet, that odious Republican Joey Saluda (or whatever his name is) made numerous comments about Greta’s autism. So I reported them, and I invite all my fellow jackal tweeters to do the same.

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Curious. The image on the Dinesh D’Stupid tweet, an earnest young schoolgirl, is hidden from view (“We can’t show you everything! We automatically hide photos that might contain sensitive content.”) whereas the Occam’s Rancor image is shown in full bosomy, come-hither glory.

    Twitter has an odd notion of what is, and isn’t, “sensitive content.”

  18. 18.

    cain

    @Adam L Silverman:

    @cain: I’m curious as to your take on this. My impression of him is that he’s trying terribly hard, to the point of it is painful to watch, to pass and to be included by people that largely see him as just another brown person/person of color. His only path to acceptance with these folks is to outdo them in terms of their preferred ideological and theological and dogmatic preferences. And so the rest of us see him as pathetic because we recognize this performative attempt to be accepted by people that largely don’t have any use for people like him. Most likely the people he’s ingratiating himself with feel the same way, but for them it tickles the same neuroreceptors that are miswired so that cruelty is felt as pleasure.

    I see him as a man who has gotten into a grift and enjoys making money from it. His white peers see him as a way to say “hey we accept everyone, it’s all about our ideology not racism!” He’s a repellent man, who manages to grift by saying outrageous things.
    I’m sure you can apply this to other PoCs who in on the platform. But you know there is probably some trauma involved that lead to the whole thing.

  20. 20.

    Roger Moore

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Twitter has an odd notion of what is, and isn’t, “sensitive content.”

    Twitter depends on user complaints to decide what to tag as sensitive content. It seems very likely that a bunch of people who don’t like Dinesh decided to report him to Twitter, while Occam’s Rancor didn’t attract enough of the right kind of attention to get the same treatment.

  22. 22.

    satby

    @SiubhanDuinne: people are also reporting DiShithead for that tweet. “Offensive, Targeted harrasment” in case anyone wants to join me. We usually just mock and move on, but it’s time to work the refs like the reichtwing does.

  24. 24.

    Adam L Silverman

    @cain: Lat pull downs, high and mid back rows, straight leg dead lifts and lower back extensions.

    She’s also going to have trouble shouldering her AR pattern rifle now too.

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    @cain: I’m sure there is trauma involved somewhere. Most likely from dating both Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter.

  26. 26.

    mad citizen

    @Ben Cisco: On the CBS evening news it was somewhere around the 4th story. They did not mention the “Beto” part, though.

    The misinformation and obfuscation of trumpov is fairly unbelievable with this Ukraine/Biden thing. Again on the CBS story tonight, just before they played trumpov’s soundbite of “Biden/corruption”, the reporter voiceover was “there is no evidence for this”. It seems Corruption, Facts and Truth will be the central issues of the campaign, Dems need to hammer these things RELENTLESSLY.

  28. 28.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SiubhanDuinne: @Roger Moore: For about two month’s after TaMara’s post with the Medusa sculpture in it, because Medusa was topless, if you went to Cole’s Twitter feed, which autopopulates and tweets out our posts, you got a mature content warning.

  29. 29.

    cain

    @Adam L Silverman:

    @cain: I’m sure there is trauma involved somewhere. Most likely from dating both Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter.

    Man, that’s.. I don’t even know how to respond to that. It’s like three forms of pestilence meeting interacting with each other.

  30. 30.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @chris:

    Oh, I saw DD’s tweet yesterday, and know perfectly well what it looks like. But Nazi Girl — the identical image — is also in the Occam’s Rancor tweet, and shows up just fine, with no warning about “sensitive content.” So I think perhaps they are trying to hide Greta.

  34. 34.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Roger Moore:

    Ah, now THAT makes more sense. Thanks. Although I still don’t know what’s supposed to be so “sensitive” about the (hidden) image(s) as opposed to DD’s tweet text — which is not hidden.

  35. 35.

    Roger Moore

    @Adam L Silverman:
    There’s definitely a lot of reporting political tweets by people who want to silence them. It obviously works best if there’s some genuine reason the tweet might be objectionable, but there’s definitely a lot of pretextual reporting.

  38. 38.

    Jeffro

    OT but wow: “national security Dems” (ie, those in tough swing districts) just came out with an op-ed in the Post calling for trumpov’s impeachment.

    If these allegations are true, we believe these actions represent an impeachable offense. We do not arrive at this conclusion lightly, and we call on our colleagues in Congress to consider the use of all congressional authorities available to us, including the power of “inherent contempt” and impeachment hearings, to address these new allegations, find the truth and protect our national security.

    All systems go, Nancy Smash. Let’s GO.

  39. 39.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @satby:

    I mentioned that yesterday in whatever thread the DD tweet showed up in. I thought, and still think, it’s horribly offensive and that it should be taken down and DD banned from Twitter. I’m don’t have a Twitter account, or I would have joined you in reporting him.

  40. 40.

    Mary G

    Seven of the holdout Reps just came off the fence in a WaPo editorial:

    By Gil Cisneros, Jason Crow, Chrissy Houlahan, Elaine Luria, Mikie Sherrill, Elissa Slotkin and Abigail Spanberger

    If these allegations are true, we believe these actions represent an impeachable offense. We do not arrive at this conclusion lightly, and we call on our colleagues in Congress to consider the use of all congressional authorities available to us, including the power of “inherent contempt” and impeachment hearings, to address these new allegations, find the truth and protect our national security.

    The dam is cracking! ETA: Jeffro beat me.

  42. 42.

    Patricia Kayden

    Thankfully between D’Souza and Thunberg, only one will leave a positive, lasting legacy. And it won’t be the convicted felon.

  43. 43.

    scav

    I’m really going to need a cheat-sheet.
    Liberals, demoncrats and progressives are the real nazìs (it’s right in the very name boo-hiss-boo-hiss!) but Neo-Nazìs –even when running people down in cars — are just a few good men with a few good points.

    And, is this blond little Nordic girl one of the mmigrants we’re supposed to be cheering and saying Hello to on school buses?

  44. 44.

    Jeffro

    @Mary G: But only by 2 minutes! ;)

    The dam is indeed cracking. With apologies to Dr. Strange, “we are in the endgame now”. Ok not really. But CLOSE to the endgame!

    Better sack up, GOP – last one on the trumptanic gets a nice cool ride to the bottom, where there is no light, ever.

  47. 47.

    Uncle Cosmo

    I particularly enjoyed Bill McKibben’s comeback:

    As a matter of principle I try not to despise other human beings, but I’m willing to make an exception for @DineshDSouza.

    D’Sleaza better hope there ain’t no reincarnation – he’d come back as the species of bug he ate.

  48. 48.

    Jeffro

    a threat to all we have sworn to protect

    Don’t go being all shrill, House Dems.

    Ok, I take it back: SHRILL AWAY

  49. 49.

    Mary G

    @Jeffro: I think that what got the Dem holdouts out was Mitt Romney and Pat Toomey, even if it was just brow furrowing, dipping their toes in the water.

  50. 50.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @chris:

    How appalling and sickening. Good for the guy who called him out.

    Apparently Greta is on the autism spectrum, very high-functioning to be sure. But how dare this horrible person conflate autism with “mental illness”? And even if she were mentally ill (a term which does a lot of heavy lifting), so the fuck what? Where does he come off attacking anybody with any kind of disability or disorder or difference — least of all a 16-year-old girl, a foreigner and guest in our country.

    I’m practically spitting fire, I’m so angry about this.

  51. 51.

    Jeffro

    @mad citizen: @Ben Cisco: it seems to me like there’s this one candidate whose campaign is centered on ‘fighting corruption’ and how most every issue/problem we’re dealing with these days ties back to corruption – especially the corruption that comes from big money, dark money, unaccountable money and power.

    I wonder how she’s doing? =)

  55. 55.

    Jeffro

    @Mary G: That, and/or “if not now/not for this kind of conduct…when?”

    The kind of line-drawing trumpublicans could never comprehend, unless it’s imaginary lines crossed by Democrats.

    Our thanks also to REPUBLICAN Bill Weld for both running against trumpov and most especially for calling what he did here ‘treason’. I’m still waiting for the news headlines of “Bipartisan accusations of treason and betrayal surround president* trumpov” but I won’t hold my breath.

  56. 56.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Ben Cisco: Hadn’t the OKC bomber been stationed at Fort Riley? At the time there were many reports that that post was radicalizing soldiers to RW causes.

  58. 58.

    Mary G

    @Jeffro: They’re moving right along:

    FLAG IT: House Dems leaders have called a caucus meeting tomorrow at 4 pm to discuss you know what: questions of impeachment.Here we go…— Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) September 23, 2019

  65. 65.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dmsilev: Hannah Arendt’s quote about Leo Strauss applies here:

    he wanted to join a party which wouldn’t have him because he was a Jew

  67. 67.

    Millard Filmore

    @Jeffro:

    Better sack up, GOP – last one on the trumptanic gets a nice cool ride to the bottom, where there is no light, ever.

    The current national GOP leadership will not crack. They are ALL* participating in Trump’s international crime spree. The ones that would qualify for a few months stay at Club Fed have all gone home. The current crew are at risk of years of hard time. They cannot let polls or GOP reputation or constituent screams relax their grip on the levers of power.

    [*] OK, maybe Ben “short bus” Carson has been left out of the loop.

  69. 69.

    Shana

    @Keithly: Given the “illustriousness” of several of its alumni, and the fact that Animal House was supposedly based on Dartmouth, how is it that it’s considered an Ivy? I’ve never understood that.

  70. 70.

    Raoul

    On the theme of Repub stupidity, the WaPo had put up analysis piece mid-day about House retirements.

    Shot: “Publicly, Republicans rarely challenge or criticize Trump, showering him with chants of ‘four more years’ as he spoke to the House GOP at a policy retreat in Baltimore last week.”

    Chaser: “‘Down ballot, for the Republicans, you are basically judged by whatever the president does, and not by what you do,’ said former congressman Ryan Costello (Pa.), a moderate Republican who retired in 2018.”

    They aren’t much for self-awareness, are they?

  72. 72.

    dmsilev

    @Adam L Silverman: The self-aware version of that belongs to Groucho Marx:

    I sent the club a wire stating, “PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON’T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER”.

  73. 73.

    mad citizen

    @Jeffro: She’s doing well so far for sure. I’m astounded how far America has come on the Idiocracy scale since the movie was made. Warren or whoever is our nominee (it had better be a woman, so only 3 real possibilities really), will need to teach America what corruption is, why it is a drag on us all, on fair markets, etc., and THEN go through the endless list of how the Trumplican party has engaged in it.

  74. 74.

    JAFD

    @chopper: Or, as our President would say – if he knew Latin and classical Greek – Molon Labia

    (When Ms. Water Girl gets new site finished, will have to learn how to write comments in Greek letters ;-) )

  75. 75.

    Kay

    @Mary G:

    Oooh. Exciting. Can’t go back now!

    Do they have extra money for emergencies? Can they staff up? They need to create the equivalent of an investigative unit.

  77. 77.

    Jeffro

    @Ben Cisco:

    She’s in my top two and I hope she keeps pounding on that theme.

    that theme is, how do they say, a “target-rich environment”, with ‘rich’ potentially being the understatement of the year/century/history of the Republic

    Thanksgiving is going to be a BLAST this year! Hey RWNJ relatives, remember when I told you 36, 30, 24, 18, 12, and 6 months ago you were going to regret sticking by Orangmandias? No? That’s ok – here’s an entire binder* full of commentary along the way.

    *with apologies (not really) to Mitt
    *also yes, at this point it really would be an entire 3-ring binder

  78. 78.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ladyraxterinok: McVeigh was radicalized because of three things, which built on an emotionally messed up familial situation and childhood. The three items were: 1) McVeigh had to be medically washed out of the initial qualifying (Q) course for the Green Berets due to an injury. He started the course with either a bad cold or the flu and decided he’s just push through it, but because he was ill he wasn’t up to the grueling nature of the Q course and injured himself. He was offered the opportunity to recycle to a subsequent initial Q course once he was well, but for some reason chose not to. 2) The Army had screwed up his tax withholding, including during his Desert Storm/Desert Shield deployment, which led to this huge bill from the IRS. He made a request for assistance in repayment as it wasn’t his fault and, a significant chunk of the problem was because of his deployment pay and as he was deployed, he couldn’t really stop the operation, come home, and fix things. The IRS refused. Between the two, close in succession events, he’d had enough. Rather than reupping and recycling to the next initial Q course, he simply let his contract with the Army expire and moved on. He then, at some point, decided during the stand off to go down to Waco, where he observed the botched raid, which then crystalized his already growing resentment. Those were the three key drivers of his turn to anti-government extremism.

  79. 79.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Shana: @Mary G: Kind of hard to miss, which is, I’m sure, the point. But, as I said in a previous comment, it is going to make it hard for her to properly shoulder her beloved AR pattern or any other rifle.

  80. 80.

    Duane

    @satby: Im old enough to remember when children were off-limits. Conservatives are a contemptible bunch, with D’Lousa a perfect example.

  81. 81.

    Brachiator

    Someone on twitter – Kevin Kruse? — suggested that D’Sousa might not be as stupid as he come off, but he assumes that his marks are every bit stupid enough to pay him for acting as though he is.

    I think that D’Sousa is exactly as stupid as he comes off. But his fans are equally dumb, and will see this truly stupid and nonsensical comparison as really giving it to Democrats. These dopes really believe that they are masters of the universe.

  83. 83.

    dmsilev

    @JAFD:

    When Ms. Water Girl gets new site finished, will have to learn how to write comments in Greek letters ;-)

    Hmm. Testing:
    αβγδε
    (Looks ok when typing the comment…)

    Edit: Seems to work. On an iPad, go to Settings-General-Keyboard, select add new keyboard and pick Greek from the list. Then, in the comment box, tap the globe icon on the keyboard to switch back and forth.

  85. 85.

    Jeffro

    @Millard Filmore: I think ‘Short Bus’ (LOL) has been left out of the more nefarious stuff…it was probably like “Ok Ben, just go over there and tell them they’re wrong and try to find ways to stop spending my billionaire bucks on losers, ok?”

    True story (not sure if I shared this on BJ before): I was seated next to the good Dr. Carson on a flight home from CO this past summer. We gabbed for about a half hour (mostly about his family, zero politics). I think the fact that I clearly knew who he was, but didn’t go all fanboy over his work as a doc OR as a cabinet secretary, probably registered on some level with him. Always glad to give cabinet-level RWNJs food for thought! ;)

  86. 86.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Ladyraxterinok: A bit after the OKC bombing a former student dropped by to visit a bit. I was surprised to see that he was in the army.

    He said he was at Fort Riley and that every negative thing published about the culture of the fort was true

  89. 89.

    Mary G

    @Kay: I know Nadler’s been staffing up for months with heavy hitters, and I can’t see Schiff not having all his ducks in a row either. They’ve been issuing subpoenas and asking for testimony since January. Just because the media doesn’t report it doesn’t mean stuff hasn’t been happening. The fact that the WH has told them to fuck off so many times will end up working against Twitler, I hope.

  90. 90.

    cain

    @schrodingers_cat:

    @cain: In the truly terrible Indian people sweepstakes, D^2 has nothing over Howdy Modi.

    My family was definitely not impressed by Modi. Called him a Trump ass kisser.

  91. 91.

    satby

    @SiubhanDuinne: well, my response on Twitter to Knowles was

    Fuck you. Autism is not a mental illness. You are despicable in denying her agency, her passion, and how correct she is in her cause to save the future for her and her peers.

  94. 94.

    Ben Cisco

    @Jeffro: Man I am so glad to not have to deal with that – worst I had to deal with were a couple of Wilmer-curious cousins that were disillusioned enough to dump him before the election.

  105. 105.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Frankensteinbeck: Spartiate women had no real de jure rights, but plenty of de facto rights. Because of the enforced bisexuality for the male Spartiates in the agogees, the Spartiate women were free to have lesbian affairs, but to also take men to their beds who weren’t their husbands. Especially to get them pregnant and produce heirs if it was done discreetly/without fanfare. This was especially common among Sparta’s queens and many commenters on the history of the Peloponnisian War have asserted that it is clear from Thucydides and other records of the time that Alciabides, who defected to Sparta and who was himself bisexual, had an affair with one of Sparta’s queens and that a pregnancy resulted.

  106. 106.

    TomatoQueen

    @Shana: The Ivy League came about in 1954 as the NCAA athletic conference for Division I was formed. The encrustation of academic quality grew particularly at Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Dartmouth in the years prior to that, so the grouping was a natural outgrowth. Everybody knows, however, that with the exception of Theodore Geisel (Dr Seuss), Dartmouth is for animals. I’m from New Haven.

  107. 107.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Some people hear that so often that it has failed to have meaning. Either that or every time someone says that to them they just hear Hello. They need the explanation just so they actually get the message. They aren’t real bright.

  108. 108.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ruckus: My thought was that the well thought-out explanation that followed would have simply gone in one ear and out the other.

  109. 109.

    Elizabelle

    @Jeffro: Yea! The pressure builds.

    From the WaPost op ed: Seven freshman Democrats: These allegations are a threat to all we have sworn to protect

    September 23 at 9:00 PM

    Reps. Gil Cisneros of California, Jason Crow of Colorado, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Elaine Luria of Virginia, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia are all freshman Democrats.

    It’s short. I am going to put up the whole thing. And it deserves a thread, at some point.

    Our lives have been defined by national service. We are not career politicians. We are veterans of the military and of the nation’s defense and intelligence agencies. Our service is rooted in the defense of our country on the front lines of national security.

    We have devoted our lives to the service and security of our country, and throughout our careers, we have sworn oaths to defend the Constitution of the United States many times over. Now, we join as a unified group to uphold that oath as we enter uncharted waters and face unprecedented allegations against President Trump.

    The president of the United States may have used his position to pressure a foreign country into investigating a political opponent, and he sought to use U.S. taxpayer dollars as leverage to do it. He allegedly sought to use the very security assistance dollars appropriated by Congress to create stability in the world, to help root out corruption and to protect our national security interests, for his own personal gain. These allegations are stunning, both in the national security threat they pose and the potential corruption they represent. We also know that on Sept. 9, the inspector general for the intelligence community notified Congress of a “credible” and “urgent” whistleblower complaint related to national security and potentially involving these allegations. Despite federal law requiring the disclosure of this complaint to Congress, the administration has blocked its release to Congress.

    This flagrant disregard for the law cannot stand. To uphold and defend our Constitution, Congress must determine whether the president was indeed willing to use his power and withhold security assistance funds to persuade a foreign country to assist him in an upcoming election.

    If these allegations are true, we believe these actions represent an impeachable offense. We do not arrive at this conclusion lightly, and we call on our colleagues in Congress to consider the use of all congressional authorities available to us, including the power of “inherent contempt” and impeachment hearings, to address these new allegations, find the truth and protect our national security.

    As members of Congress, we have prioritized delivering for our constituents — remaining steadfast in our focus on health care, infrastructure, economic policy and our communities’ priorities. Yet everything we do harks back to our oaths to defend the country. These new allegations are a threat to all we have sworn to protect. We must preserve the checks and balances envisioned by the Founders and restore the trust of the American people in our government. And that is what we intend to do.

  111. 111.

    Duane

    @Raoul: Since Trumpov came along there really is no bottom for these people. I have been made fully aware how much the character of a president matters.

  112. 112.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle: Spanberger is truly a profile in courage and I have no doubt the rest are from the same mold.

    “DEEP STATE!” all you want, trumpov. It won’t save you. We all know it’s just another way to say “the rule of law”

  114. 114.

    Jeffro

    @Mary G: Great point – and now they have something to really swing at.

    This isn’t about 2016, Hillary, emails, Mueller (unfortunately, although I hope the Dems add 10 counts of obstruction to the eventual impeachment proceedings), or even him giving away classified info to the Russians IN THE OVAL OFFICE or THE BLESSED HELSINKI MEETING (yet)

    It’s him, using the powers of the office to try and bribe/extort/both a foreign president in order to damage Biden/help trumpov win the 2020 election. The whole country is fucking sick of this guy and here he is, doing everything we told them he would do. And I think most Republican officeholders see the writing on the wall for 2020 after the severe beating the party took in 2018, running on Fascism Lite.

    I have zero doubt he’ll be calling for reprisals of some kind by the end of the month. Just add it to the list, Dems!

  116. 116.

    Jeffro

    Btw here’s the ridiculous non-response response from my Congressman, Denver Riggleman (R-good luck with that) when I emailed him to push for impeachment:

    Dear Jeffro,

    Thank you for continuing to take an active role in our nation’s political system. It is an honor to represent the people of Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District, and I appreciate the opportunity to learn your thoughts on this issue.

    I have received your messages and will keep your comments and concerns in mind as Congress deliberates these matters. I hope that you and other Virginians will continue to share with me on these important issues as citizen participation is vital for a transparent and functional government. Thank you for your dedication to preserving this nation’s representative institutions.

    I am committed to providing outstanding services and representation to the constituents of our district. One way I will do this is by providing regular updates for my constituents on my work in Washington through social media. Please stay connected and follow every vote that I take in Congress, by liking my page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/repriggleman), following me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/RepRiggleman), and visiting my website (https://riggleman.house.gov) to sign up for my weekly e-newsletter.

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    Denver, I dunno…this is the kind of thing that gets a person’s wheels turning about a Spanberger-ish run for your seat. You dig?

  117. 117.

    Jeffro

    Rampell is on fire in tomorrow’s column and at first I was offended, but she names all the right names, in the right order. And treats his presidency as more or less a done deal, too.

    trumpov isn’t the only person responsible for the demise of American democracy:

    Unindicted co-conspirators in this heartless murder include Republican lawmakers. They have been led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and former House speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), who tolerated massacres of civil rights, of rule of law and of other democratic values and institutions, so long as the party got its federal judges or tax cuts.

    They got lots of help from their colleagues. Even when those colleagues were on record as disapproving of the exact kinds of anti-democratic actions Trump acknowledges taking.

    Recall that in June, Trump told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that he’d gladly accept dirt from a foreign power on a political rival, and asserted that all politicians do so. Republican lawmakers flatly condemned Trump’s approach to such foreign-offered “oppo research” and said that they’d go straight to the FBI if anyone ever made such an offer. Senators on the record expressing some version of this view include Majority Whip John Thune (S.D.), Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Cory Gardner (Colo.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), John Cornyn (Tex.) and Mitt Romney (Utah).

    Fast-forward to today. Now that the hypothetical appears to have come true, they’ve mostly fallen silent. Or worse: They’ve urged the Justice Department to investigate the political rival whom Trump sought a foreign power’s help in sullying, former vice president Joe Biden.

    At best, you have Romney tweeting that “If the President asked or pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate his political rival, either directly or through his personal attorney, it would be troubling in the extreme.” Except that “if” is superfluous, given that Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani acknowledged this way back in May.

    Trump’s lickspittle Cabinet officials are also implicated in the Trump-coordinated assault on democracy.

    On Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave multiple interviews in which he suggested that Biden is the real party responsible for interfering in U.S. elections. (Umm, what?) Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — who has elsewhere praised Trump’s “perfect genes” — likewise dismissed as “speculation” reporting that Trump directed Ukrainian leaders to investigate Biden. Even though Trump then appeared to confirm that “speculation” (and then reversed himself again on Monday).

    Even former defense secretary Jim Mattis, out with a new book on leadership, ducked a question about whether it would be wrong for a president, any president, to ask foreign leaders to investigate political opponents.

    Meanwhile, the media has also dropped the ball.

    I don’t just mean Trump’s preferred propaganda outlet, Fox News. The rest of us have allowed the president to serve as our assignment editor. We spread his smears for him, and too often shy from coverage of any threat to democracy more technical than a tweet. At best, we ask Democrats what would, at last, count as an impeachable offense — but rarely direct such inquiries at Republicans, who, you know, actually stand in the way of a fair impeachment trial.

    Democrats share some blame, too, feckless as they’ve been. They dragged their feet in demanding critical documents, including Trump’s tax returns. They failed to competently question petulant and obstructive witnesses such as former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. And they frequently seem more interested in attacking one another than holding Trump to account.

    (ok except for that last sentence, I agree)

  119. 119.

    Mai naem mobile

    @cain: i think DinDin would love to have his Indian card taken away. IMHO hes a self hating Indian who wished he was born white. Hes the outsider who will never get inside because he has to be white to be in the club he wants to get into.

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