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You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Another Jan6 Committee Open Thread: Takin’ Notes On A Criminal F*cking Conspiracy

Another Jan6 Committee Open Thread: Takin’ Notes On A Criminal F*cking Conspiracy

by Anne Laurie|  June 28, 202211:49 pm| 190 Comments

This post is in: Balloon Juice, Jan 6: Hearings, Jan 6: Insurrection, Open Threads, The Republican Crime Syndicate

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… Which was, after all, Cassidy Hutchinson’s job…

Again, this is enough for even the feds to very seriously consider charging him on an incitement theory.

Your average DA would already be tipping off the press about when and where to film the perp walk.https://t.co/4ou7Y0lw24

— BrandenburgTestHat (@Popehat) June 28, 2022

Keep in mind, her testimony is devastating mostly bc she heard & saw a lot bc she worked for an ignoramus who didn’t conceal his involvement in the coup. But she wasn’t a planner or participant. Imagine what could happen if—likely when—one of those guys flips & goes public https://t.co/cKPrY3N6Sg

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) June 28, 2022


Seems like a pretty good insta-summary:

… Hutchinson, who served as executive assistant to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, provided five stunning revelations about former president Donald Trump’s coup attempt.

1- Meadows and Trump knew there could be violence on Jan. 6 and enabled the mob...
This is the closest we have come to confirming that Trump wanted the armed crowd to march on the Capitol. His attempt to facilitate an armed mob storming the Capitol will be a critical fact in the decision whether to charge him.

When Hutchinson warned Meadows that the mob was getting close to the Capitol, he ignored her — even apparently slamming a car door twice as she tried to speak to him. When she finally did convey the information, she said Meadows had a “lack of reaction.” All Meadows wanted to know was how much longer Trump had left in his speech…

2- Trump’s advisers knew that Trump could be exposed to criminal charges.
Hutchinson testified that Cipollone tried to edit Trump’s “Stop the Steal” speech both for legal reasons and for how it would be perceived. The inflammatory elements remained.

Cipollone also weighed in on Jan. 3 against Trump’s request to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Hutchinson said Cipollone told her, “We need to make sure this doesn’t happen. We have serious legal concerns.” He again pleaded to make sure Trump didn’t go up to the Capitol on the morning of Jan. 6 because, as Hutchinson recalled him saying, “we’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable.”

3- Trump went ballistic when he was told he couldn’t go to the Capitol.…

4- Trump’s ring leaders asked for pardons.
Hutchinson testified that Giuliani and Meadows both requested pardons from Trump after the insurrection. This follows revelations from the committee last week that a number of Republican members of Congress also sought pardons. Any prosecutor would use this as evidence of guilt.

5- Other Trump aides are cowards and dissemblers.
Hutchinson’s appearance before the committee placed a spotlight on the list of Trump aides who have refused to come forward with their eyewitness testimony, including Meadows, Ornato, Cipollone and others. In fact, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chair of the committee, read statements from unnamed witnesses that they had been warned by others to be “loyal” to Trump, suggesting the possibility of witness tampering…


The rioters broke into the Capitol. She sees Cipollone go to Meadows’ office (who is on his phone) and tells him about the riots. Mark said: “Trump doesn’t want to do anything.”

Pat told Mark that something needed to be done or else there would be blood on their hands.

A few minutes later Jim Jordan calls back Meadows. She goes to dining room to tell Meadows Jordan called back. Meadows took the phone w/door propped open to talk to Jordan. She could hear Trump & others talking about the “Hang Mike Pence” chants.

Then, Pat said “Mark we need to something more. They’re literally calling for the VP to be f****g hung.”

Meadows: “You heard Trump. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong.”

Hutchinson: Trump also said to Meadows that Pence “deserved it.”

At 2:24 p.m. on 1/6, Trump tweeted that Pence didn’t have the “courage to do what needed to be done.”

Hutchinson: “As an American, I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic, unAmerican. We were watching the Capitol being defaced over a lie.”

1. FRANKNESS: Saying all you know

2. TRUTH: Speaking what you know to be true

3. CRITICISM: Criticizing those in positions of power

4. DANGER: Speaking truth despite a risk to your safety

5. DUTY: Feeling obliged to tell the truth, despite the risk

Within an hour or two Republicans will be sending out fundraising emails with video of them throwing their lunches against the wall https://t.co/ZorGQ6ZoTS

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) June 28, 2022

Bret Baier crushes Trump on Fox after the hearing, leaving his guests in stunned silence when he is finished. Very satisfying watch. “He says she’s lying. Cassidy Hutchinson is under oath, on Capitol Hill. The president is on Truth Social.” pic.twitter.com/frWFAguy4E

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 28, 2022

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Reader Interactions

190Comments

  1. 1.

    Leslie

    June 28, 2022 at 7:59 pm

    Am I first? Everyone’s still down in the previous thread.

  2. 2.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    June 28, 2022 at 7:59 pm

    It’s possible they talked frankly in front of her because they saw her as an underling who didn’t count.

  3. 3.

    Leslie

    June 28, 2022 at 8:00 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: And they assumed her loyalty. She had impeccable GOP credentials, from what I can tell.

  4. 4.

    Jerzy Russian

    June 28, 2022 at 8:06 pm

    I don’t see how acknowledging that the transition should be peaceful would be self incriminating, but I am not a lawyer.  As noted before the general should be recalled to service, kicked in the nuts, busted to PFC, hauled in front of a court marshal (is that how it is spelled?), kicked in the nuts, and taken to Leavenworth.

  5. 5.

    Jerzy Russian

    June 28, 2022 at 8:09 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:   Recall that apparently a documentary film crew was present for many of these events.  Once you can learn to talk freely in front of a film crew, talking freely in front of someone’s assistant isn’t that big of a leap.

  6. 6.

    Anne Laurie

    June 28, 2022 at 8:09 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s possible they talked frankly in front of her because they saw her as an underling who didn’t count.

    Also, they’ve all clearly strongly internalized the message “If a Republican does it, that is not a crime.”

  7. 7.

    evap

    June 28, 2022 at 8:12 pm

    When you’ve lost Fox News….

  8. 8.

    Jeffro

    June 28, 2022 at 8:13 pm

    I am still trying to figure out how I’d like to take my victory lap after six straight years of telling my RWNJ dad and brother that trump had no bottom, and would continue to lead them and their party down an endless spiral of depravity.

    Not that they’d ever admit it.

    Maybe just knowing I’m not only right, but on the right side of history, will have to be enough.

  9. 9.

    Starfish

    June 28, 2022 at 8:17 pm

    @Jeffro: Perhaps you can send them a lunch that they can throw against the wall?

  10. 10.

    CaseyL

    June 28, 2022 at 8:18 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: I am anxiously awaiting that day of hearings.  Hutchinson didn’t mention seeing the film crew around, though.

  11. 11.

    Kent

    June 28, 2022 at 8:19 pm

    @Jeffro: Trust me, they will never admit it.  My RWNJ relatives have all already deflected on to the horror that is LGBT rights and the direct linkages between CRT and communism.  Oh, and that Biden is responsible for inflation and windmills are causing high gas prices or something.

    But they will snap right back the minute Trump is on the ballot again.

    The only hope is that there are fewer and fewer of them every month that passes and more and more of us.

  12. 12.

    Gravenstone

    June 28, 2022 at 8:21 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: Martial.

  13. 13.

    HumboldtBlue

    June 28, 2022 at 8:21 pm

    @Anne Laurie: ​ 

    Yup

  14. 14.

    Kent

    June 28, 2022 at 8:22 pm

    @Anne Laurie: They all thought they were untouchable because they always have been.  And it’s about “what the boss wants” always.  Not what is right or wrong.  Those are foreign concepts for Republicans.

  15. 15.

    bbleh

    June 28, 2022 at 8:22 pm

    There seem to be a lot of people saying, and nobody denying, that Meadows was/is a lying weasel, unusually bad even for DC, even for a Republican, and even for the “Tea Party” generation.

    What I take away from this is, he’s a lying weasel not because he’s evil or has an agenda, but because he’s a weakling.  And it’s hardly surprising that a weakling would be what TFG would want as a CoS.

    See also McCarthy, Kevin.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    June 28, 2022 at 8:23 pm

    @Kent:

    The only hope is that there are fewer and fewer of them every month that passes and more and more of us.

     

    Now I feel bad rooting against Covid.

  17. 17.

    Jinchi

    June 28, 2022 at 8:23 pm

    Hutchinson testified that Giuliani and Meadows both requested pardons from Trump after the insurrection.

    It would really be great if Congress would clarify that the president can’t pardon people for crimes he ordered them to commit.

  18. 18.

    Nicole

    June 28, 2022 at 8:24 pm

    Man, that bit at the end about witness tampering.  I can’t stand Cheney; she’s still A) a Republican and B) a Cheney, but that couldn’t have been played any better if it had been serialized television.  I was left fuming that I have to wait until JULY for the next episode?  Hell yes, I’ll be tuning in.

    And yeah, I know this is real life, but I really do give props to the Jan 6 committee for offering up hearings that, dare I say, can hold the attention of the average American.

  19. 19.

    Kent

    June 28, 2022 at 8:24 pm

    @CaseyL: @Jerzy Russian: I am anxiously awaiting that day of hearings.  Hutchinson didn’t mention seeing the film crew around, though.

    She wasn’t asked.  At least in this particular public hearing.  They asked her a very specific set of questions to reinforce a very specific narrative.  She might well have discussed it during her other hours and hours of taped private testimony.  We have no way to know.

  20. 20.

    HumboldtBlue

    June 28, 2022 at 8:25 pm

    NEW: Ginni Thomas has responded to the Jan. 6 committee’s official request to testify. Her lawyer is asking “the Committee to provide a better justification for why” her “testimony is relevant to the Committee’s legislative purpose,” per the letter. More TK…

  21. 21.

    bbleh

    June 28, 2022 at 8:25 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: @Leslie: @Anne Laurie: credentials, a presentation both self-effacing and polished, and, ahem, a young woman.

    “Well thank the Good Lord that we finally found one who knows her business AND her place!”

  22. 22.

    Jinchi

    June 28, 2022 at 8:27 pm

    @Kent: ​Trust me, they will never admit it. My RWNJ relatives have all already deflected on to the horror that is LGBT rights and the direct linkages between CRT and communism.

    One of my in-laws is wondering why we keep talking about TFG, as though he is long gone and forgotten.

    Same in-law is also planning to buy a new book describing how Democrats smuggled ballots into voting machines.

  23. 23.

    Kent

    June 28, 2022 at 8:27 pm

    @Baud:Now I feel bad rooting against Covid.

    Well, in the case of my kin it is mostly that they are old and obese and have horrible diets and take cars and mobility scooters EVERYWHERE.

  24. 24.

    lollipopguild

    June 28, 2022 at 8:27 pm

    @evap: Fox wants to break up with trump so they can date desantis.

  25. 25.

    different-church-lady

    June 28, 2022 at 8:27 pm

    WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE LUNCHES?!?

  26. 26.

    Baud

    June 28, 2022 at 8:27 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    1. Because she sought to overturn the election.
    2. Didn’t she say she wanted to testify?
  27. 27.

    Amir Khalid

    June 28, 2022 at 8:27 pm

    @Jerzy Russian:

    It might not be incriminating as such, but maybe Flynn feared that saying he supported a peaceful transition of power might sound to MAGAts’ ears like he wasn’t all in for the insurrection, and might lead to them excommunicating him from the movement. Or maybe he’s just still scared shitless of Trump. Or maybe he’s unware that his Trumpy lawyer is working for Trump and not him.

  28. 28.

    CaseyL

    June 28, 2022 at 8:28 pm

    @Kent: Presumably the Committee has watched all of the footage, quite possibly frame by frame. And whatever was on it is surely informing their strategy about what questions to ask of whom.

    Oh, and on top of everything else: Mark Meadows was Ginni Thomas’ conduit to Trump & Co.   I’m not sure what good it would do for him to give her up (he’s so deep in shit at this point) but one can hope.

    ETA:

    @HumboldtBlue:  And right on cue, Ginni is suddenly not so happy to talk to the Committee.

  29. 29.

    Ken

    June 28, 2022 at 8:31 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: I have to think she’s not been watching the hearings, because that is practically inviting them to broadcast what they know about her role.

  30. 30.

    HumboldtBlue

    June 28, 2022 at 8:34 pm

    @Baud:

    She did say she wanted to testify but now her lawyer is lawyering and claiming four things as why she now won’t.

    Also, I just noticed the original tweet I linked to, the author writes for dailycaller, so take with some skepticism.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    June 28, 2022 at 8:37 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I don’t think the committee was that interested in her. They’re not going to play games.

  32. 32.

    zhena gogolia

    June 28, 2022 at 8:38 pm

    I love having you guys to discuss this stuff with

  33. 33.

    HumboldtBlue

    June 28, 2022 at 8:40 pm

    @Baud:

    I agree.

  34. 34.

    JWR

    June 28, 2022 at 8:41 pm

    Just checked my near daily podcast listen, Background Briefing with Ian Masters, and his first guest is Paul Campos from LG&M. So… first question on today’s hearing:

    Ian Masters:: Why is this guy not in jail?

    Paul Campos: Because Merrick Garland is a wuss!

    He’s just going after the little guys, etc., and it goes on like that. Fortunately, the next guest is Lance Dodes, one of the people behind The Dangerous Case of DJT. Should be far better than the last.

  35. 35.

    David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch

    June 28, 2022 at 8:44 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: ​
      They all do that. Remember how Dump was eager to show his tax returns and eager to testify to Mueller.

    They say one thing to the public and another thing to the prosecutors.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    June 28, 2022 at 8:45 pm

    @JWR:

    Stuff like that is why I became a normie

  37. 37.

    nevsky42

    June 28, 2022 at 8:46 pm

    I actually thought there was something wrong with the Baier video because the last ten seconds were just the talking heads frozen in stunned silence…

  38. 38.

    dmsilev

    June 28, 2022 at 8:46 pm

    @different-church-lady: Have you seen the sort of stuff TFG likes to eat? Believe me, the lunches had it coming.

  39. 39.

    Leslie

    June 28, 2022 at 8:47 pm

    @different-church-lady: Patriotic lunches don’t mind being sacrificed.

  40. 40.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 8:49 pm

    @different-church-lady: You know I love it when you CAPS LOCK on me. So very satisfying.

  41. 41.

    zhena gogolia

    June 28, 2022 at 8:51 pm

    This vile pig was the President of the United States. And might be again.

    that’s “vile pig,” not “bio pic,” voice recognition

  42. 42.

    Citizen_X

    June 28, 2022 at 8:51 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: Her lawyer is asking “the Committee to provide a better justification for why” her “testimony is relevant to the Committee’s legislative purpose,”

    I think “We were trying to fulfill that purpose when you motherfuckers tried to murder us” should be enough.

  43. 43.

    chrome agnomen

    June 28, 2022 at 8:52 pm

    @Leslie: I prefer lunches that haven’t been thrown.

  44. 44.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 8:53 pm

    @Baud: I predicted this on day one. She absolutely should NOT testify and her saying she was eager to is just evidence of what a dummy she is. That statement is not 5th amendment privileged.

    So now, perhaps, a subpoena.

    I really hate her after the Anita Hill drunk dial.

  45. 45.

    Kristine

    June 28, 2022 at 8:54 pm

    @JWR: I can only take LGM in very small doses. It’s a circle jerk of doom over there.

  46. 46.

    HumboldtBlue

    June 28, 2022 at 8:54 pm

    @Citizen_X:

    Yup.

    @David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch:

    Good point.

  47. 47.

    Ken

    June 28, 2022 at 8:54 pm

    @zhena gogolia: You need to use “vile pig” more often to train the algorithm. (The technique is known as “santorumization”.)  Make it a habit to say “vile pig” whenever you want to refer to TFG, and the algorithm will pick it up in a couple of days.

  48. 48.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 8:55 pm

    @Baud: Your application to the Normie Consortium has been rejected with the following advice:

    “Do not reapply”

  49. 49.

    Gravenstone

    June 28, 2022 at 8:56 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: And so the tapdance of walking back her hubristic bravado begins in earnest.

  50. 50.

    Baud

    June 28, 2022 at 8:56 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    So you’re actually talking to us when you’re talking to us.

  51. 51.

    raven

    June 28, 2022 at 8:57 pm

    So they knew there were dudes strapped with 9’s and AR’s. What did they do, just let them go on? I asked already but, if they confiscated a bunch of weapons at the Mags, there is no accounting of them? What the fuck-over?

  52. 52.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 8:57 pm

    @Kristine: Can I add “white male” to you very apt descriptors?

  53. 53.

    zhena gogolia

    June 28, 2022 at 8:57 pm

    @Baud: A lot of the time

  54. 54.

    Baud

    June 28, 2022 at 8:58 pm

    @Immanentize:

    I can’t return the lobotomy.

  55. 55.

    zhena gogolia

    June 28, 2022 at 8:58 pm

    @raven: You’re right they did say they were guns

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne

    June 28, 2022 at 8:59 pm

    @Nicole:

    I was saying in another thread that I suspect Liz Cheney assumed all of the talk about an insurrection was just the usual Republican dick-swinging and was pissed when she realized the assholes had actually done it.

  57. 57.

    ian

    June 28, 2022 at 8:59 pm

    They talked in front of the staff and documentary crew because they assumed they would pull it off.  They figured their bestest buddies on the SC would have their backs, the congresscritters would be too cowed, and they would control DOJ on 1/21/21.  These people are not very bright, and things got out of hand.

  58. 58.

    Scout211

    June 28, 2022 at 8:59 pm

    @Immanentize:

    True. Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is an attorney who is a dummy.

    But according to the internet, she is also a political activist, a lobbyist and a public policy analyst.

    I guess Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas found an attorney who isn’t a dummy to represent her.

  59. 59.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    June 28, 2022 at 8:59 pm

    @Nicole: And yeah, I know this is real life, but I really do give props to the Jan 6 committee for offering up hearings that, dare I say, can hold the attention of the average American.

    Someone on this committee or their staff REALLY understands television.

  60. 60.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:00 pm

    @raven: I think they:
    1) did not get to the big guns because those guys did not enter the protected area. Not that they could not have happily sprayed from beyond the perimeter. And
    2) let them leave rather than surrender.

    Time will tell

  61. 61.

    ThresherK

    June 28, 2022 at 9:00 pm

    I’m so stealing this from Mistermix a few posts ago:

    There’s nothing like the private, not-for-attribution, off-the-record moral courage of a House Republican

  62. 62.

    David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch

    June 28, 2022 at 9:01 pm

    @raven: ​
      Open carry is illegal in DC and concealed carry needs permits. Plus all weapons must be registered.

    These people should have been arrested.

  63. 63.

    Mnemosyne

    June 28, 2022 at 9:01 pm

    @raven:

    I’m not sure if they confiscated them or let people go back to their trucks and stash them. There was at least one report of some guys getting pulled over with a carload of guns, so I suspect that they were allowed to just bring them back to their cars.

  64. 64.

    HumboldtBlue

    June 28, 2022 at 9:01 pm

    Mary Trump will be MSNBC at 10 EST 7 PST.

  65. 65.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:02 pm

    @Baud: ask Rosemary Kennedy if they can be sent back. She should know.

  66. 66.

    Gravenstone

    June 28, 2022 at 9:03 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: They’re working in coordination with a former ABC exec. So yes they literally have someone familiar with the medium helping them craft their presentation.

  67. 67.

    raven

    June 28, 2022 at 9:03 pm

    @Immanentize: Guns are illegal in DC, right?

  68. 68.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:04 pm

    @Scout211: Let me assure you, being an attorney is no guarantee one is not a dummy….

    Oops.

  69. 69.

    Central Planning

    June 28, 2022 at 9:04 pm

    @dmsilev: “Planned Presidential Movement” indeed

  70. 70.

    Scout211

    June 28, 2022 at 9:04 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: They hired a former ABC television news producer, James Goldston.

  71. 71.

    ian

    June 28, 2022 at 9:05 pm

    @Baud:  You can be our very own Phineas Gage!

  72. 72.

    raven

    June 28, 2022 at 9:05 pm

    @David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch: That’s what I’m talkin bout! Plus they said in the hearing today that all kinds of shit was confiscated at the Mags at the rally. When someone gets popped with a weapon at an airport it’s all over the news with pictures.

  73. 73.

    Scout211

    June 28, 2022 at 9:06 pm

    @Immanentize: So you think the dummy has a dummy for an attorney? Do tell.

  74. 74.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:07 pm

    @raven: Yes they generally are. And those laws kept a lot of guns getting to the Capitol that day.

    But there are “laws” and there are vibes that Trump wanted his security people to feel. I will not be surprised if lenience was the order of the day.

    Look at how prepared the Cap. Police were compared to the BLM protests

  75. 75.

    Kristine

    June 28, 2022 at 9:08 pm

    @Immanentize: Sure.

  76. 76.

    Delk

    June 28, 2022 at 9:09 pm

    Freedom fries want to be free.

  77. 77.

    raven

    June 28, 2022 at 9:09 pm

    Several thousand members of the crowd refused to go through the machines to enter the rally space, and instead watched from the lawn near the Washington Monument, Ms. Cheney said. Those who chose to go through the detectors had various weapons confiscated, including pepper spray, knives, brass knuckles, tasers, body armor, gas masks, batons and blunt weapons.

  78. 78.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:09 pm

    @ian: I talk about Gage in crim. law. Think of every juvenile/adolescent as Phineas Gage. Same brains.

  79. 79.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:10 pm

    @Scout211: it certainly happens often. I suspect Hutchinson’s first lawyer had divided interests and was, to her, a big dummy.

  80. 80.

    JWR

    June 28, 2022 at 9:10 pm

    @Baud: Same here.

  81. 81.

    different-church-lady

    June 28, 2022 at 9:11 pm

    @Immanentize: ​
      WHO DO I INVOICE???

  82. 82.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:12 pm

    @different-church-lady: Just send the bill to Cole. In ALL CAPS!

  83. 83.

    raven

    June 28, 2022 at 9:12 pm

    @Immanentize: I wouldn’t think the security force would exercise leniency. If the president got killed they would be in a world of shit.

  84. 84.

    Dan B

    June 28, 2022 at 9:13 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Schiff seems to me to be aware of how media works.  I also seem to recall he felt the hearings needed to reach the general public because TFG would have to be tried in the court of public opinion before either the establishment or justice would move.

    Also the former ABC producer seems to have had a huge influence.  This surprise hearing is just what TV news uses to drive up the eyeball count.

  85. 85.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:13 pm

    @raven: This

  86. 86.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:14 pm

    @raven: True, but there is a difference between letting them in and confiscating and turning back. You’ve been to enough concerts to know this! Some are harsh, some are kind.

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    June 28, 2022 at 9:15 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Someone on this committee or their staff REALLY understands television.

    One of the less-great things about Adam Schiff is that he represents the major studios, but that also gives him a pipeline to some really talented volunteers and consultants. That’s my assumption, anyway.

    ETA: And my assumption was right. Yay! (ABC = Disney, one of Schiff’s major corporate constituents.)

  88. 88.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:15 pm

    @Mnemosyne: interesting! How is gay mouse doing?

  89. 89.

    Leslie

    June 28, 2022 at 9:19 pm

    @chrome agnomen: You mean you eat your food instead of using it as a spontaneous art installation?

     

    @ThresherK: Nominate for rotating tag.

  90. 90.

    Mnemosyne

    June 28, 2022 at 9:20 pm

    @Immanentize:

    Gay mouse is still pretty pissed, as are us allies. We were all very amused when the scorpion De Santis immediately stung our CEO just like we all knew he would.

    There are probably photos of me at one of the protests floating around somewhere, though I was wearing a mask and sunglasses.

  91. 91.

    Mike in NC

    June 28, 2022 at 9:21 pm

    Donald Trump must die behind bars wearing an orange jumpsuit. Nothing else is acceptable.

  92. 92.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:21 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Mnem at Zorro! Me like.

  93. 93.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 28, 2022 at 9:24 pm

    @JWR: The Merrick Garland hate is strong at LGM, as is the general doomism and “nothing will matter” pronouncements. I get entrained in it sometimes.

  94. 94.

    Baud

    June 28, 2022 at 9:25 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    Donald Trump must die behind bars wearing an orange jumpsuit. Nothing else is acceptable.

     
    Disagree. I would accept the traditional black and white striped suit.

  95. 95.

    Tony G

    June 28, 2022 at 9:26 pm

    Stating the blindingly obvious here — but it’s shocking that a person like Trump was in ANY position of authority, let alone the president of the United States.  What kind of person over the age of two throws food at a wall?  (My own adult sons never did anything like that, even when they were in diapers.).  What kind of person assaults a Secret Service agent who has the duty to protect him (and can therefore not effectively defend himself)?   Yet, tens of millions of Americans support and love that pile of garbage.  We’re in deep trouble because of Trump’s cult members, even if Trump were to disappear tomorrow.

  96. 96.

    zhena gogolia

    June 28, 2022 at 9:26 pm

    @Baud: Like a Laurel & Hardy movie or something? Or George Clooney in O Brother, Where Art Thou??

  97. 97.

    zhena gogolia

    June 28, 2022 at 9:27 pm

    @Tony G: Absolutely.

    With all my excitement and laughter today, it’s a deeply sad and terrifying story she told.

  98. 98.

    Anne Laurie

    June 28, 2022 at 9:28 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Liz Cheney assumed all of the talk about an insurrection was just the usual Republican dick-swinging and was pissed when she realized the assholes had actually done it.

    Nah, Liz has been pissed at the MAGAts going back forever.  They broke the Republican brand, and it wasn’t their brand!

    The insurrection just gave her the tools to weaponize her contempt.  Which, as I’ve said:  I wouldn’t trust her very far, but better right now that she’s inside the tent pissing out…

  99. 99.

    Suzanne

    June 28, 2022 at 9:28 pm

    This has been one of the craziest weeks in political life in my memory. I am so glad the blog is back so I can rehash it to death.

  100. 100.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 28, 2022 at 9:29 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I poke around the theme-park-fandom community a lot and everyone seems to agree that Disney has been making a lot of stupid decisions lately with regard to the parks–but it’s hard to discuss it because someone in the conversation is always going to take that hard right turn into complaining about Woke Disney and the groomers who want to show us gay ladies kissing and won’t let us watch Song of the South.

  101. 101.

    David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch

    June 28, 2022 at 9:29 pm

    speaking orange jumpsuits

    New York (CNN) — Ghislaine Maxwell, 60, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Tuesday

  102. 102.

    Anne Laurie

    June 28, 2022 at 9:31 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Someone on this committee or their staff REALLY understands television.

    As was mentioned in the AP extract I posted last night / this morning, the Committee hired a well-respected television professional to help ‘stage’ their hearings.

    Certain social-media Politics Knowers considered this a sign of weakness, until the ketchup started streaming down the walls…

  103. 103.

    bbleh

    June 28, 2022 at 9:32 pm

    @Anne Laurie: They broke the Republican brand, and it wasn’t their brand!

    And perhaps even worse, zey refuse to follow ordersss!

    I’m sure it’s unfair, and ALL due respect (!) for her relentless-prosecutor role in the 1/6 hearings, but Liz is a natural for a black high-collared uniform and an armband.

  104. 104.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 28, 2022 at 9:34 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: Once you take the Fifth, you can’t choose which questions you will or won’t answer.  You invoked your right to remain silent.  You have to be silent.

  105. 105.

    zhena gogolia

    June 28, 2022 at 9:36 pm

    @bbleh: Yeah! But love her in these hearings.

  106. 106.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 28, 2022 at 9:38 pm

    @Immanentize: It is known.

  107. 107.

    Misterpuff

    June 28, 2022 at 9:39 pm

    @Anne Laurie: Nice Broder callback.

  108. 108.

    raven

    June 28, 2022 at 9:40 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: well it is confusing when they keep asking questions.

  109. 109.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    June 28, 2022 at 9:40 pm

    @Anne Laurie: Thanks to you and the others who reminded me of this. I’d totally forgotten about the ABC producer.

    He really knows his audience, particularly the members of the media, even the Fox-y ones. You keep hearing about how surprisingly riveting it is for a congressional hearing. That’s definitely the hand of the TV producer.

    Many years ago when I lived in the DC area, I used to get really annoyed that the WaPo would have their TV critic “review” serious political events as if they were meant to be entertainment. But I guess Tom Shales was just ahead of his time.

  110. 110.

    Ken

    June 28, 2022 at 9:40 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:  Woke Disney and the groomers who want to show us gay ladies kissing

    That’s not Disney, that’s the entire porn industry.  Well, the part geared to heterosexual males.

  111. 111.

    catclub

    June 28, 2022 at 9:40 pm

    @Amir Khalid: ​
     

    Or maybe he’s just still scared shitless of Trump.

    and owned by Russians?

  112. 112.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 28, 2022 at 9:42 pm

    @raven: Difference between being a witness at a hearing and a defendant at a trial.  The witness still can forced to take the stand

  113. 113.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:43 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: This is what surprises me about these viddys. You take the fifth, you are done! Even more important, you answer some questions and it may mean you didn’t actually take the fifth. It is confusing me. Is the Congressional rule about answering different than DOJ’s?

  114. 114.

    raven

    June 28, 2022 at 9:43 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Ah

  115. 115.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 28, 2022 at 9:44 pm

    @Ken: That reminds me…. Where is BillinGlendale these days?

  116. 116.

    ian

    June 28, 2022 at 9:45 pm

    @bbleh: I recently switched my registration to republican so I can vote for her in the primary.  It makes my skin crawl and my soul hurt to think about a) being a registed republican and b) voting for Cheney.

    I need a shower.

  117. 117.

    NotMax

    June 28, 2022 at 9:45 pm

    ‘@raven

    The real magic trick was how this same throng of armed (and dis- or unarmed) people cheering the speakers on the Ellipse morphed (in Republispeak) into a mob of Antifa over the course of walking 12 blocks.

    That’s some nth level prestidigitation, that is.

    //

  118. 118.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:45 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: many jurisdictions in criminal cases do not allow a witness to be compelled to testify only to assert the fifth. The Onion Field case/movie is absolutely a great example of why this should not be allowed

  119. 119.

    O. Felix Culpa

    June 28, 2022 at 9:46 pm

    @Suzanne:

    Me too.

  120. 120.

    Delk

    June 28, 2022 at 9:46 pm

    Richard Irvin conceded. Republican running for Illinois governor. He had the worst tv ads.

  121. 121.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:46 pm

    @NotMax: Antifa is tricksie!

  122. 122.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    @Delk: this is good, yes?

  123. 123.

    Spanky

    June 28, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    Nemmind.

  124. 124.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: in Glendale?

  125. 125.

    O. Felix Culpa

    June 28, 2022 at 9:48 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Yes. She is masterful. I wouldn’t want to be in her crosshairs, for sure.

  126. 126.

    catclub

    June 28, 2022 at 9:48 pm

    @Ken: ​
      I want Trumper tantrum

  127. 127.

    NotMax

    June 28, 2022 at 9:48 pm

    No Open Thread on the horizon, seemingly, so dropping in an OT.

    Amazon is limiting customers to three units of emergency contraceptive pills a week in response to a spike in demand after the Supreme Court ended federal abortion rights, the company told CNBC.

    Other retailers are also limiting purchases of drugs like Plan B and Aftera — CVS and Rite Aid are likewise limiting customers to three pills per customer. The companies say there is enough supply of the drugs but that they’re trying to keep them on the shelves consistently. The drugs, often called the morning-after pill, can prevent pregnancy if taken after unprotected sex. Source

  128. 128.

    O. Felix Culpa

    June 28, 2022 at 9:49 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    He’s still around, but working full-time (I believe) at the big box orange apron store, so not around as much.

  129. 129.

    Jim Appleton

    June 28, 2022 at 9:50 pm

    First, my way of referring to TFG is iDJT, small i plus his initials, pronounced “idjit.”

    Second, where we are now is not good but hopefully getting better.

    We had him for four years thanks to millions, many of whom still see him as some kind of stalwart hero, with or without illegitimate help.  This despite all that’s become clear lately which proves otherwise.

    He nearly pulled off a coup which current members of Congress supported at the time and continue to support, despite the tightening noose of evidence of their own culpability.

    My thin reed of hope is that the cumulative weight of evidence, such as provided today by Cassidy Hutchinson and ongoing, turns enough doubters into understanders.

  130. 130.

    Delk

    June 28, 2022 at 9:50 pm

    @Immanentize: Yes!
    Black guy—defund the police? I say defend the police. Black lives matters? All lives matter.
    Ugh

  131. 131.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 28, 2022 at 9:51 pm

    @Immanentize: The rules must be different for a Congressional Hearing.  I’d do some research if I wasn’t a lazy sod.

  132. 132.

    debbie

    June 28, 2022 at 9:53 pm

    @raven:

    Today’s the first I saw of a MAGAT climbing into a tree with an AR-15.

  133. 133.

    Geminid

    June 28, 2022 at 9:54 pm

    @Anne Laurie: I happened to be studying a “Proud member of Do Something Twitter” when it was reported that the Committee was hiring the TV producer. Hmm, I said, I wonder what will come of this?

    Then I checked on Mr. Do Something, and he already knew! “Hiring a TV producer?!! Democrats are doing it WRONG! This is what they did in the second impeachment and LOOK HOW THAT TURNED OUT!”

    So after the first two hearings I checked out Mr. Do Something again, to see if maybe he was eating a little crow. Not a chance. “This is all well and good,” he said, “but just imagine how powerful it would have been if the Democrats had impeached Trump the night of January 6, and these hearings had been staged that February!”

    Just a bonehead.

  134. 134.

    Tenar Arha

    June 28, 2022 at 9:54 pm

    SWTG I forgot what it was like to not check your news feeds for a few hours & come back & EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE is . Also too, wow, this is why it was good for me to get rid of the Twitter app on my phone.

  135. 135.

    MagdaInBlack

    June 28, 2022 at 9:55 pm

    @NotMax: Wow! That is impressive.

  136. 136.

    NotMax

    June 28, 2022 at 9:55 pm

    ‘@Jim Appleton

    iDJT

    Not Apple’s best product release.

    :)

  137. 137.

    Mnemosyne

    June 28, 2022 at 9:56 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Magic Key has been kind of a fiasco out here, and people are kinda pissed about FastPasses going away. I haven’t been since before quarantine, so I don’t even know how things work anymore.

  138. 138.

    Jim Appleton

    June 28, 2022 at 9:56 pm

    @NotMax: Ha!

  139. 139.

    Skepticat

    June 28, 2022 at 9:56 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s possible OBVIOUS they talked frankly in front of her because they saw her as an underling who didn’t count.

    She most certainly counts now, though I fear for her.

  140. 140.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 10:00 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Ha! I am no one’s research assistant either. It is an interesting question — for one of my research assistants!!

  141. 141.

    NotMax

    June 28, 2022 at 10:01 pm

    ‘@Skepticat

    Little pitchers Coffee gofers have big ears.

    //

  142. 142.

    Alison Rose

    June 28, 2022 at 10:04 pm

    LOL Seth Meyers referred to complaining people in their YouTube comments as “a bunch of jackals” and I was like…………he reads Balloon Juice???

  143. 143.

    Jim Appleton

    June 28, 2022 at 10:10 pm

    Serious question I’ve not seen asked or answered:

    What did TFG intend by going to the Capitol with an armed mob?

    Why did he think it was a good idea?

    What was he going to do once he got there along with violent, armed people he incited who he thought were doing no wrong?

  144. 144.

    Steve in the ATL

    June 28, 2022 at 10:10 pm

    @Immanentize: surely someone has a couple of first years lying around who could be put on the case

  145. 145.

    Mnemosyne

    June 28, 2022 at 10:13 pm

    @Jim Appleton:

    He was trying to overthrow the government. I am not joking or exaggerating.

    Fortunately, there was still enough infrastructure that he failed, but that’s honest to God what that fucker was trying to do: install himself as president for life.

  146. 146.

    brendancalling

    June 28, 2022 at 10:13 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: I’m a regular commenter at LGM, and I like their posts, but the constant “we’re doomed” gets tiring.

  147. 147.

    Alison Rose

    June 28, 2022 at 10:13 pm

    @Jim Appleton: He thought they would all cheer for him, and that’s not something he can possibly avoid. If there’s a chance a crowd of amped-up angry white people will yell his name and clap for him, he’s gotta have it. Honestly, I wish he had been there, because then he might actually be in prison right now.

  148. 148.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 10:13 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: maybe if I offer a couple of younguns an opportunity to hear me sing “Jenny was a Friend of Mine” they will sign up for the cause?

    PS nice to see your post here

  149. 149.

    SFBayAreaGal

    June 28, 2022 at 10:13 pm

    A few days after the riot, there was an article stating Ginni Thomas had provided buses for some of the rioters to come to TFG rally/rioters party.

  150. 150.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 28, 2022 at 10:14 pm

    @Jim Appleton: There was apparently buzz about him “making a speech” there. I think he thought he’d literally waltz in with his armed mob, take Congress hostage, give them a tough-guy talk with guns pointed at their heads and force them to make him President again, kind of like Hitler at the Reichstag.

  151. 151.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 10:15 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I agree. And frankly (I was thinking about this a lot today) I am not sure he would have failed if he had gone to the Capitol. The dynamic would have been completely different.

  152. 152.

    Kropacetic

    June 28, 2022 at 10:16 pm

    I thought I lost the ability to be shocked by Trump. I always bigly suspected, but the details…

  153. 153.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 28, 2022 at 10:19 pm

    @Immanentize: I don’t think Congress would have knuckled under without a shot being fired. Not the Democrats, at least. I think it would have turned into a massacre of Congress, and then we’d have an even more interesting crisis on our hands.

  154. 154.

    Anne Laurie

    June 28, 2022 at 10:19 pm

    @brendancalling: I’m a regular commenter at LGM, and I like their posts, but the constant “we’re doomed” gets tiring.

    On the other hand, I’ve had commentors complain that they’re switching to LGM because Balloon-Juice, these days, is too ‘happy-clappy Democrat-machine supporting’…

  155. 155.

    Geminid

    June 28, 2022 at 10:21 pm

    Illinois had two Rep on Rep primaries today. Up in Chicagoland, Democrats Marie Newman and Sean Casten competed for the 6th CD nomination, and it appears that Casten has won. Earlier in the evening he led 59% to 36% with half the vote counted.

    Things were closer downstate where Republicans Rodney Davis and Mary Miller are going at it for the 15th CD nomination. With 57% of the vote counted, Miller led Davis 56.7% to 43.3%. Miller had Trump’s endorsement, which he reiterated at a rally with her three days ago.

  156. 156.

    kalakal

    June 28, 2022 at 10:22 pm

    In more bad news for the MAGATs: Tina Peters has lost the GQP primary  to become Colorado Secretary of State. Now she just has the court case to look forward to, Lindell blew a lot of cash on her, and even Boebert thinks she’s toxic. Sad!

  157. 157.

    NotMax

    June 28, 2022 at 10:22 pm

    ‘@Immanentize

    The wait for the escalator to be constructed with which he could ascend to the Capitol would have been protracted.

    //

  158. 158.

    Steve in the ATL

    June 28, 2022 at 10:23 pm

    @Immanentize: having a big time in Alabama!  Here’s a quick summary of broadcast radio in the state:

    1. White men lying about politics;

    2. White men lying about religion;

    3. White men lying about college football; and

    4. White men playing bro country

     

    God help us!

  159. 159.

    Geminid

    June 28, 2022 at 10:25 pm

    @brendancalling: I read LGM every now and then. I really like Eric Gloomis’ American graves series.

  160. 160.

    Bill Arnold

    June 28, 2022 at 10:27 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:
    Since Trump wasn’t thinking clearly, one could also imagine him trying to find Pence and then something even more ludicrous like having his Secret Service detail attack Pence’s Secret Service detail. Pence did not trust the Secret Service in general, though he trusted his personal detail.
    I suspect Trump just wanted to be there, though, present and inspiring the rioters.
    They are lucky that it fizzled. They would all be dead or in jail, otherwise. The Capital Police were armed with firearms unlike almost all of the rioters (thanks to DC gun laws), and probably had enough ammunition to kill a lot of rioters.

  161. 161.

    Ruckus

    June 28, 2022 at 10:28 pm

    @David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch:

    She seems nice……..

    Hope she enjoys the stay.

  162. 162.

    Immanentize

    June 28, 2022 at 10:30 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: number three is as normal as anything named “Peachtree” in ATL. The rest are worrisome.

  163. 163.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 28, 2022 at 10:31 pm

    @Immanentize:

    I am not sure he would have failed if he had gone to the Capitol. The dynamic would have been completely different.

    I had that thought. Not sure thing, but as you say, a completely different dynamic. Napoleon on 18 Brumaire.

  164. 164.

    NotMax

    June 28, 2022 at 10:35 pm

    ‘@Steve in the ATL

    WKKK?

    //

  165. 165.

    James E Powell

    June 28, 2022 at 10:36 pm

    We need to start making the case against each of the elected Republicans who supported & continue to support Trump & the insurrection. The connections are clear to use, but are not to the low-info voters who will decide the midterms.

    I don’t know if anyone has a database or a list or a chart, but none of them have been shy about their support. The whole Republican brand needs to be smeared with this. We hear may think that it is, but to those voters, it is not

    We cannot expect the press to make the case for us. We have to do it.

  166. 166.

    Steve in the ATL

    June 28, 2022 at 10:40 pm

    @NotMax: ha!

  167. 167.

    kalakal

    June 28, 2022 at 10:41 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think he would have failed, Hitler and the 1923 Beerhall Putsch. it would have been bloody.

  168. 168.

    Steve in the ATL

    June 28, 2022 at 10:41 pm

    @Immanentize: the Bama station was typically delusional and insufferable. The auburn station was just sad!

  169. 169.

    brendancalling

    June 28, 2022 at 10:49 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: I’m a regular commenter at LGM, and I like their posts, but the constant “we’re doomed” gets tiring.

  170. 170.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 28, 2022 at 10:49 pm

    @Mnemosyne: There’s all kinds of crazy stuff going on at the Florida resort–aside from all that Genie stuff, they cancelled the very popular Magical Express bus service from the airport, then they got pissed off that this Brightline train that’s under construction might take a route that would actually service Universal and SeaWorld, and the upshot of that seems to be that they won’t get a Brightline stop on property at all (one had been planned).

    And they’re losing their bizarre pocket government, but that’s for the worst imaginable reason, because they’re not homophobic enough for DeSantis.

  171. 171.

    JoyceH

    June 28, 2022 at 10:50 pm

    Something that struck me from earlier in the testimony was what Giuliani said to Hutchinson – asked if she was excited about the 6th, and when she seemed puzzled, he said the president was going to the Capitol and ‘he’s going to look so powerful’. These guys are off in some other dimension, but sometimes I get the feeling that someone in their orbit has watched The West Wing, and knows from the reaction of others which plot elements really resonated, though they lack the wisdom and the humanity to understand WHY. Jed Bartlett went to the Capitol and somehow that changed everything. So hey, we’ll get Trump to go to the Capitol!

  172. 172.

    UncleEbeneezer

    June 28, 2022 at 10:51 pm

    @JWR: Nope.  No fucking way I’m listening to Campos.  He’s been one of the worst commentators on how Garland Must Resign!!1! From the jump.  Ignoring everything DOJ has been doing at every turn and never addressing the way cases are built, investigated and prosecuted per former DOJ attorneys.

  173. 173.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 28, 2022 at 10:53 pm

    @JoyceH: That worship of POWER as a value in itself is the thing that just makes the entire American right unacceptable. I know everyone who plays politics at a high level has to be kind of a megalomaniac. But they think you see someone else who radiates POWER and you immediately have to admire them and obey them. Born toadies.

  174. 174.

    Kay

    June 28, 2022 at 10:59 pm

    I went with my sister to Obama’s 2nd inaugeration and the teenagers who climbed trees to get a better look were so cute up there- stradding limbs with their legs hanging down – bunches of them. Just a really joyful celebration. We met an entire huge family from Utah who joked that they were the only Democrats in Utah so it was 100% attendance out of Utah. It was bitter cold and my sister had a thin city jacket so they lent her one of the blankets they were sitting on to wear.

    I thought about it about it watching the hearing today with the police transmission about how one of the Trump rioters was in a tree with a gun.

  175. 175.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 28, 2022 at 10:59 pm

    …you see it in their religion too, always emphasizing the POOOWRRRRR of the LORRRD above just about any other property he might have.

  176. 176.

    brendancalling

    June 28, 2022 at 11:03 pm

    @Anne Laurie: I’ve heard the same. That’s why I read both. My blog list is short: Balloon-Juice, LGM, Daily Kos for Ukraine coverage mainly, and Progress Pond (where I used to write—Martin Longman is one of my best friends). And it’s because the substance is good. Sometimes I disagree w/ a specific BJ (or LGM/DK/PP) post, but it’s always well thought out, sincere, and real. Unlike some blogs (ahem atrios) where it’s nothing but “everything is bad, Dems suck.”

  177. 177.

    frosty

    June 28, 2022 at 11:22 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: ​
      Better you than me. Of course, we left Oregon a week or so ago and have been spending time in Idaho (campground owner strapped, WTF is she worried about?), Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Misery, rural Illinois and now Indiana. I can’t wait to get back to Blue Country … oh, shit, I’m going home to South PA. Damn!

  178. 178.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 28, 2022 at 11:23 pm

    Brenden Moore @brendenmoore13 59m

    Breaking: Rep. Rodney Davis concedes to Trump-backed Rep. Mary Miller in the #IL15 GOP primary. 

    Manu Raju @mkraju 7m

    A big shakeup in House GOP with Rodney Davis — a McCarthy ally who would have been a committee chairman — losing to a House Freedom Caucus member. Davis’ sin: Voting to establish a bipartisan outside commission (with joint subpoena power) to probe Jan 6

    ETA: she’s the one who said the Dobbs ruling was a triumph for “white life” at a trump rally

  179. 179.

    Mnemosyne

    June 28, 2022 at 11:41 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    ETA: she’s the one who said the Dobbs ruling was a triumph for “white life” at a trump rally

    That’s probably what put her over the top with the Illinois Nazis. ‍♀️

  180. 180.

    UncleEbeneezer

    June 28, 2022 at 11:45 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: I’m staying away during these hearings because the place was downright insufferable on anything related to DOJ/Garland.  There are much better places to read the thoughts of actual former prosecutors make sense of what we are seeing or not seeing and what is likely going on in DOJ investigations.  #SistersInLaw podcast and the hosts’ Twitter feeds, Renato Marriotti, etc.  For a place that is relatively good about understanding the structural constraints of politics LGM has been astoundingly lacking at having that same realistic insight into Federal investigations/prosecutions.  It’s kind of sad, tbh.

  181. 181.

    UncleEbeneezer

    June 28, 2022 at 11:51 pm

    @brendancalling: Every political blog is a lot of navel-gazing to some extent, but shit, at least here people are trying to do something to save our Democracy with Watergirl’s great organizing and DougJ’s fundraising threads rather than just endless complaining.

  182. 182.

    JWR

    June 29, 2022 at 12:46 am

    @UncleEbeneezer: Hey, Unc! Just a note to say that I saw and appreciated your comments re LGM. As for Ian Masters, he usually doesn’t stoop to the Paul Campos level of stupid politics, but oh well.

  183. 183.

    Dopey-o

    June 29, 2022 at 12:56 am

    @UncleEbeneezer: For a place that is relatively good about understanding the structural constraints of politics LGM has been astoundingly lacking at having that same realistic insight into Federal investigations/prosecutions.  It’s kind of sad, tbh.

    LGM amazes me. A short 3 or 4 paragraphs on any topic quickly devolves into tangled snarls of comments and endless circularity. Nested comments within tangled threads within inside discussions and third-rate puns.

    ETA: Most days the puns are the only take-away worh the effort.

  184. 184.

    lowtechcyclist

    June 29, 2022 at 6:42 am

    @Kent: ​

    Trust me, they will never admit it. My RWNJ relatives have all already deflected on to the horror that is LGBT rights and the direct linkages between CRT and communism.

    That last bit reminded me of this dialogue between B.D. and Zonker in Doonesbury, right after Zonker joined the huddle for the first time.​

  185. 185.

    Booger

    June 29, 2022 at 7:05 am

    @Kristine: What’s it say that the best feature is “Eric Visits An American Grave Part The Five Thousandth?”

  186. 186.

    AxelFoley

    June 29, 2022 at 7:09 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    That’s probably what put her over the top with the Illinois Nazis. ‍♀️

    I hate Illinois Nazis.

  187. 187.

    Geminid

    June 29, 2022 at 7:30 am

    @AxelFoley: The IL 15th CD primary was a good test of strength between the Republican establishment and its radicals. Rodney Davis had the support of just about every county party chairman, and groups like the Farm Bureau and the FOP. Much of the new district overlapped with his old one. But Mary Miller beat him, and it wasn’t very close.

    Upstate, Democrat Sean Casten knocked out Marie Newman in the Democratic 6th CD primary. Casten is in the “moderate” New Democratic Coalition, while Newman is a member of the Progressive Caucus, but the race probably did not turn on ideology. Newman was hampered by an ethics investigation. After she narrowly lost to the younger Lipinski in their 2018 primary, Newman made a deal with a potential 2020 rival where she promised him a job. He ended up suing her, they settled, and she put him on her campaign payroll. The House Ethics Committee has an open investigation into this.

    I like both Newman and Casten, but I was rooting for Casten. He was one of the 40 Democrats who flipped red seats in 2018, and he has a good background in clean energy.

  188. 188.

    brantl

    June 29, 2022 at 7:39 am

    @Jerzy Russian: Court Martial (the type of court).

  189. 189.

    Gvg

    June 29, 2022 at 7:44 am

    @Jerzy Russian: I think it implies he was involved in non peaceful transition events which would make him guilty?

  190. 190.

    The Lodger

    June 29, 2022 at 4:50 pm

    @Immanentize: I saw tape of Hutchinson sitting next to one of her earlier lawyers. Definite “babysitter” vibe from him.

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