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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Lindsey

Lindsey

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Steve M thinks that Lindsey Graham’s Fox News Sunday show threats mean that he’s giving license to Trump supporters to go out in the street and riot if Trump is exposed to any real legal consequences. Here’s what he said, in part:

“If there’s a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information, after the Clinton debacle … there’ll be riots in the streets,” Graham told former South Carolina congressman Trey Gowdy, who now hosts Fox News’s “Sunday Night in America.”

Bark louder, little dog.

Anyway, Steve M is right that Lindsey would love to see riots over this, though I think the 1/6 prosecutions will make the rioters think twice before the kind of violence that Lindsey certainly wants. Mainly, though, I take Lindsey’s histrionics as an indicator that he did something bad wrong in Georgia. He won a temporary victory blocking his Georgia grand jury subpoena last week, but he’s going to have to testify, and even if he “fifths” all over himself, other testimony could get him in trouble.

Who knows that other guilty knowledge this guy has, since he’s basically attached himself to Trump’s butt with a vice-like grip. He even raffled off a golf trip with him and Trump on his campaign website. One great thing that could come from our common disaster would be indictment and conviction of a sitting Senator like Graham. It’s probably too much to hope for, but I have it on valid authority that a dream is just a wish your heart makes.

Reader Interactions

122Comments

  1. 1.

    lowtechcyclist

    Too early for the coveted second spot?

    ETA: I remember when the MSM thought Graham was a great guy.  Wonder what they think of him now.  (What’s scary is that they probably still think he’s OK, just not the cat’s pajamas anymore.)

    Needs to be said more that the GOP’s answer to bad news for them frequently includes threats of violence in the streets.  And how many GOPers have spoken against the rise of such threats?  I’m betting the number is minuscule, if not zero.

    Our media need to stop treating the GOP like a responsible political party, and need to start treating them like a threat to our democracy.

  2. 2.

    danielx

    One great thing that could come from our common disaster would be indictment and conviction of a sitting Senator like Graham. It’s probably too much to hope for, but a dream is just a wish your heart makes.

    Hope springs eternal.

  4. 4.

    The Moar You Know

    There will be no riots.  Republicans are the laziest motherfuckers in the world.  They’ll just go on their failing platform of choice and whine.

    Graham is such a joke.

  5. 5.

    Jeffery

    Riots in the suburbs? That’s will be interesting. If they think they are going to drive into cities to riot they are going to be for a big surprise from the residents who live in them.

  6. 6.

    James E Powell

    I would love to see Senator Lindsey “Sycophantic Sidekick” Graham swirling down the drain. He deserves it for his spittle-flecked tirade in the Kavanaugh hearings alone, but also because he’s been a Village favorite for reasons that have never been made clear.

  7. 7.

    Steeplejack

    @Mistermix:

    Just mentioning again that I like the current nym. It’s funny but not over the top. Popehat-worthy.

  8. 8.

    WereBear

    Isn’t attendance down at TFG’s rallies? I think everyone is starting to say the first album was so much better, and the second was rushed out for financial reasons.

  10. 10.

    Kropacetic

    @The Moar You Know:There will be no riots.

    Aww, c’mon. You know every left-oriented protest going forward will be branded a riot.  Local petty crime will be cited as proof of rioting.

    Republicans don’t riot, they’re holy warriors. The real problem here is Lindsay needs to plan his talking points ahead.

    @WereBear: Isn’t attendance down at TFG’s rallies?

    This is what happens when you don’t pay your extras.

  11. 11.

    mrmoshpotato

    Who knows that other guilty knowledge this guy has, since he’s basically attached himself to Trump’s butt with a vice-like grip.

    Lamprey.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    I appreciate their willingness to round themselves up in the streets, and I’m looking forward to quelling the riots.

  15. 15.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @The Moar You Know:

    This.  1/6 was a perfect storm, including security being so understaffed that the rioters believed they were facing no real resistance and would face no consequences.  Long experience shows it’s a movement of chickenshits who love to gabble their violence fantasies, with their brave members willing to step up to anonymous threats and harassment.  Any violence will be a tiny number of isolated shooters or bombers, which is a bad thing but nothing like the rebellion conservatives fantasize.

  18. 18.

    Raoul Paste

    @James E Powell:   Of course he will contend that he is not advocating violence, he is only predicting violence.  And the talk shows will help him amplify his message.

  19. 19.

    Edmund Dantes

    @lowtechcyclist: no they actively go out and bemoan how uncivil joe biden is for calling them “semi fascist”. It’s such divisive and dividing language. How dare he do that?

     

    see latest from Ronna McDaniel for an example.

  21. 21.

    Kropacetic

    @Raoul Paste: Of course he will contend that he is not advocating violence, he is only predicting violence.

    They shouldn’t go that far, but one can hardly blame them for how they feel…

    From the party that brought you “second amendment solutions” and its more insidiously branded cousins.

  24. 24.

    Betty Cracker

    @WereBear:

    I think everyone is starting to say the first album was so much better, and the second was rushed out for financial reasons.

    I love that analogy!

  28. 28.

    Ken

    @Kropacetic: Lamprey Grim

    Sounds like a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, one that turns out (to the surprise of the entire Hogwarts faculty) to be a Death Eater.

  29. 29.

    Feckless

    Dear dark Brandon.

    Sen Graham is a terrorist, say that.

    Next: ask every single repug you can get on camera if they repudiate Graham or if they are also terrorists who hate America and it’s law enforcement who will put down said riots.

  31. 31.

    Kropacetic

    @Ken: A friend once noted that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is always the bad guy.  I said “not always, but they’re always relevant and they always attack Harry.”

  35. 35.

    Baud

    Joking aside, I hope the Clinton family is given extra protection.  It only takes one madman to create a tragedy.

  37. 37.

    jonas

    The gaslighting operation at work here is visible from outer space. Trump is not in trouble for merely “mishandling” classified documents. Clinton did that and a thorough investigation by the FBI concluded that while regulations were broken, no crimes had been committed and, as far as we know, nothing was exposed. Had Trump simply returned the shit he had taken and said it was a big oopsy then this is probably where it would have ended and you could make the argument both cases had been resolved roughly the same. But that’s not what Trump did. He stonewalled. He lied to NARA and the FBI. The affidavit for the search warrant suggests that the DOJ believes incredibly sensitive natsec secrets were compromised, or about to be compromised at MAL. We cannot let the narrative gain traction that Trump is being unjustly hounded and persecuted for doing exactly what Clinton did. These cases aren’t in the same category, room, or even galaxy as each other. Clinton did not leave SIGINT files she had stolen from the NSA lying around her living room in Chappaqua. (And if Trump *did* simply do what Clinton had done, by his own standards and rhetoric over the past six years, he should immediately, at minimum, commit seppuku.)

  39. 39.

    Ken

    @Baud:  It only takes one madman to create a tragedy.

    The Baud! 20XX! campaign slogan needs work.

    Seriously, though; yes. Especially since the lunatics of the right wing would immediately start screaming “false flag” and “crisis actors”.

  41. 41.

    Ruckus

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I seem to remember a bit of a violent mob a couple of years ago. Quite a few police injuries, an ongoing investigation, and jail sentences for some of more than a year. Any violence was not just a few. Don’t know if there are enough of them left out of jail or if they will be armed next time. But I wouldn’t count them out as more than just a few. For whatever reason (Racism!) they want blood. They may not have the actual stomach for a bloody war but I’m not putting it past them. They are ignorant, haters, and their “leader” is likely to end up in a federal pen, possibly for the rest of his life. That is the kind of thing that will have them going home and checking their weapons, with the ones that don’t shoot themselves ready to riot. Just because they fail will not mean there is not going to be a battle.

  47. 47.

    Kropacetic

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: I recall Lupin as the exception.

    I’d count Alastor Moody as an exception too.  They weren’t bad guys, they just…weren’t themselves when they attacked Harry.

    Even Gilderoy Lockhart wasn’t the bad guy.  He was just a piece of shit. Scanpe’s situation was complicated.

  48. 48.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: Retired General Mark Hertling has been following this counter offensive. Hertling noted on Twitter that Kherson Oblast has an area similar to that of Maryland, and the city of Kherson is similar to Baltimore in population.

  49. 49.

    StringOnAStick

    Speaking of tragedy, an AR-15 shooter hit a Safeway in nice blue Bend, OR last night, 2 innocents dead plus a dead shooter.  Details are sketchy at this point but the R’s around here include rabid idiots with giant Oregunian stickers on their monster trucks.  Sure going to speculate that if an AR-15 was involved, the shooter was most likely a radicalized R, maybe one looking to start Lamprey Graham’s desired riot.

  51. 51.

    Cameron

    The “Clinton debacle?”  That time when libtards outraged over Benghazi hearings tried to storm the Capitol?  I’m sure Gowdy Doody remembers that well, since (IIRC) he led about 10,000,000 hours worth of those hearings.

  53. 53.

    Miss Bianca

    @StringOnAStick: Oh, I am so sorry to hear that. Was just discussing Bend with a neighbor here who moved down from Portland a couple years ago, and I thought of you and other friends from CO who made the reverse migration around the same time.

  56. 56.

    Hungry Joe

    Lindsey’s words likely inspired patriots throughout the land to unpack their camo duds, grab the oily AR-15, don the sunglasses, and scurry to the bathroom mirror to work on The Perfect Scowl.

    Either before or after 1/6, when was the last significant right-wing/Trumpist march/protest, anyway? Charlottesville? The only time they gather in any numbers is for Trump rallies, and that’s a few thousand people — a lot of them goofball Camp Followers — for a planned (ticketed!) event in a confined space.

    ”Rioting in the streets”? I can’t see it.

  58. 58.

    Jinchi

    Lindsey Graham’s Fox News Sunday show threats mean that he’s giving license to Trump supporters to go out in the street and riot if Trump is exposed to any real legal consequences.

    It was a pretty blatant threat of the “nice democracy you’ve got here” style. Post January 6th, this type of comment is way out of bounds for any politician. Lindsay and any other rightwinger who says anything like this should be directly confronted by any interviewer who hears it.

  60. 60.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jeffery:

    If they think they are going to drive into cities to riot they are going to be for a big surprise from the residents who live in them.

    The local cops will be on their side though.

  61. 61.

    StringOnAStick

    @Miss Bianca: We arrived here on Oct 30 of 2020 and I will admit that the shows of rage around town by the radical R’s started to scare me after the November election to the point where I was concerned about the ungovernable tribal regions just east and south of here even though Bend is solid blue and becoming more so.  After the Rittenhouse verdict there was a definite increase in loud muscle trucks racing up and down the highway in celebration; that rattled me too.

    Maybe I didn’t feel as nervous about it when we lived near Denver because there were more of us in number there, much more than here, but I think they’ve only gotten crazier everywhere since the 2020 election.  I can’t shake the feeling that this shooting is FOX generated, maybe even Lindsey generated though I have no info yet to support that.  We love the outdoors here and I’m more than halfway through constructing the yard and landscape of my dreams, though I admit this shooting brings up conflicting emotions for sure.

  63. 63.

    MattF

    @Uncle Cosmo: Mostly the points made by jonas at #37. Clinton was investigated and exonerated because of the facts of the case. Similar treatment of Trump would land him in prison.

  65. 65.

    Ruckus

    @Amir Khalid:

    Well he always has been a one note harry. Glance back at the central park five debacle. SFB has been a racist fuck for his entire adult life. So yes, a one note harry. Racism is his only political point of view. Which means he is always wrong about everything and he’s never had new material.

  67. 67.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    not off-topic

    Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney 27m
    55 months for a Proud Boy who was NOT charged as one of the leaders of the group. A benchmark that may tell us where Judge Kelly will go if those facing seditious conspiracy charges are convicted or plead >>>

    Quite a story on this guy.

    Pruitt was already on probation or pretrial release at the time in both Maryland and Georgia and was wearing a court-ordered GPS monitor. He was granted pretrial release following his arrest, but that was revoked in January in response to multiple curfew violations and reports of threatening behavior online.

    so… he was wearing an ankle bracelet at the Capitol? I mean, I know most criminals are stupid, but….
    (and I know stupid doesn’t mean not dangerous)

  68. 68.

    Mike in NC

    Enjoyed the photo of Lapdog Lindsey posing with Trump and the grifter “Anna Rothschild”, all of them giving the Fat Orange Clown’s idiotic thumbs up gesture. On any given day there must be a couple dozen foreign spies strolling the grounds of Mar-A-Lago.

  70. 70.

    Honus

    @Kropacetic: wasn’t there a congressperson that said they’d have to ho to the “bullet box” if the ballot box failed?  Literally advocating violent sedition

  71. 71.

    Kropacetic

    @Honus: Literally advocating violent sedition

    As is our Republicans’ Constitutional right. That’s both advocating and implementing, so we’re clear.

  73. 73.

    Ken

    @Mike in NC: On any given day there must be a couple dozen foreign spies strolling the grounds of Mar-A-Lago.

    I wonder if there was a sudden flood of membership cancellations a couple of weeks ago.

    CLERK: “And if I may ask, Mr. Smith, why are you leaving us?”

    SMITH: “Club not meeting expectations. Also not good fit for career path.”

  74. 74.

    Jinchi

    @Kropacetic: A friend once noted that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is always the bad guy.

    No. Lupin, and arguably Snape, were both good guys. But the Dark Arts teachers were all cursed to only last a single year in the job.

  77. 77.

    ian

    “If there’s a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information, after the Clinton debacle … there’ll be riots in the streets

    Says a man who voted to increase the penalty for said behavior to a felony in 2018.  Cynical liar provoking (or attempting to) mass violence.

  78. 78.

    Jinchi

    @Uncle Cosmo: ​
     
    From the article:

    The goal here is to erase the very idea that the law can be applied to Trump in a neutral and legitimate way. All law enforcement activity directed at Trump is inherently politically motivated.

    Graham said this straight out: When it comes to Trump, “there is no law.” …

    Graham is not just threatening political violence. He’s also providing an invented rationale for it that is deeply dangerous.

  80. 80.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Fulton County DA Fani Willis is seeking to build a broad conspiracy and racketeering case that encompasses multifaceted efforts by Trump allies to disrupt and overturn the lawful election of President Biden.

  84. 84.

    PeakVT

    If there’s a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information, after the Clinton debacle…

    If only a Republican had been President, with the ability to appoint the Attorney General, at some point after Clinton committed her heinous crimes. But Obama covered it up, just like he covered up the truth about the China Flu!

  86. 86.

    Soprano2

    @StringOnAStick:I think they’ve only gotten crazier everywhere since the 2020 election

    I agree. The people who used to opine about how “uncivil” it was for someone to say “fuck” now put big banners on their houses and in their truck beds that say “Fuck Biden”, and other similar things. There are three of them in my neighborhood that I know of.

  91. 91.

    catclub

    @PeakVT: ​
     I think the Clinton security “debacle” was a few emails that were classified AFTER they had been catalogued in Clinton’s email.
    And none reclassified to TS or SCI.

  92. 92.

    Mike in NC

    Russia is seeking immigrants to offset the country’s low birth rate. Mainly from the Baltic states and Scandinavia.

    Some January 6 rioters also expressed an interest in how to apply, since fascism is their thing. It would be too difficult for them to learn the language. Plus their AR-15s wouldn’t be allowed.

  93. 93.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Geminid: If they’re right-wing outsiders rioting against minorities? Yes, I think the Boston cops would concentrate on beating up anyone who tries to stop them, identifying those people as the real rioters.

  94. 94.

    Elie

    My theory is that one of the sycophants will be the path to the orange blimp.  Lindsay is likely to have done something wrong and stupid and most of all, he aint the boss in control of nothin’…  so the boss is most certainly gonna slide what he can onto him and to prevent that, ol Lindsay may implicate the boss even more deeply.  I’m thinking US secrets were shared with entities that should not have had access and its all gonna come out.   Lindsay aint the only one sweating, is my guess.  They all truly thought that they were above the law or that no one was gonna be able to catch what they were up to.  How stupid with the orange boss and his orks moving boxes of top secret US shit all over the place!  I read and just logically believe that our spies/spooks in charge of US secrets are FURIOUS — and that they will have their revenge.  People may have died for this bullshit!   Uh uh — NOPE — assholes like Lindsay Graham will pay.  Unfortunately, we are going to have to do some damage to US power and credibility in the short term, to get these fuckers…. necessary but damage nonetheless

  95. 95.

    Geminid

    @Matt McIrvin: I thought the scenario was people protesting a trump conviction. Not sure why they would drive into Boston to suport trump by rioting against minorities who would shoot back. But Boston could be a special case. I don’t see it happeni ng in Richmond or Atlanta. Or Chicago or Pittsburgh either.

    Maybe someone who lives in Boston currently will weigh in.

  97. 97.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Geminid: They’re not even threatening riots and violence if Trump is convicted. They’re threatening it if he’s even indicted. And it’s not directed explicitly at minorities, but you can bet they’d go to black/mexican areas of town before unleashing their violence. And also at city centers, schools, and libraries… all “liberal” places.

    What’s worst about all this is that the Hillary investigation really WAS a political investigation. It was a very minor point, though worth looking into. But it was never going to be criminal because Hillary had largely followed the rules and didn’t have any criminal intention, and cooperated fully. Trump knowingly stole much more sensitive information in an incredibly insecure location, demanded to keep it, lied to the FBI about having more of it, and is even now trying to get it back.

    But with all of that, Hillary was loudly cooperative even as the Democrats knew it was an investigation pushed to keep Republicans happy during an election. And Trump and Republicans are attacking the entire DOJ while Trump isn’t elected based on incredibly firm (and even admitted by Trump) grounds. Their entire party is fully of traitors and refuse to respect the law.

  100. 100.

    Elie

     

    If I’m Lindsay Graham or some of these other mooks, I would be careful getting in and out of the shower and the like.  Remember, these folks may have had dealings with Putin or Xis people — who don’t play nice either.  Following the bread crumbs could lead to unexpected outcomes —  people can wake up dead, so to speak.  These fools have no idea between fooling around with the US security folks and spies and foreign agents…  Hope they thought it was worth it in the end…

  103. 103.

    Chris Johnson

    @Elie: Pretty sure Graham is doing this because he is directly under pressure from Putin and Trump’s handlers. His call for rioting is THE primary goal of Russia’s propagandistic meddling, this whole time.

    Back in the day they thought Trump would lose and then they’d have to work towards rioting from that position.

    Now they do it through Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump, and any other way they can. The more directly Graham calls for rioting and civil war, the more obvious it is that he is following orders.

  104. 104.

    Scout211

    The DOJ has submitted their response to the Judge’s request for more detailed information.  Link

     

    CNN)The Justice Department has identified “a limited set of materials” from its search of documents taken from Mar-a-Lago that potentially contain material covered by attorney-client privilege and is in the process of addressing privilege disputes, it said in a court filing Monday.
    Justice officials also confirmed that US intelligence officials are reviewingthe documents for classified materials.

    The FBI used law enforcement personnel who were not part of the investigation to search Trump’s office in order to protect against potential attorney-client privilege issues, according to a redacted version of the search warrant affidavit released Friday. The affidavit says that the FBI used a “Privilege Review Team” to search the “45 office,” separate from the investigators who searched other areas of Trump’s residence authorized by the warrant.

  106. 106.

    Elie

    @Chris Johnson:

    As I said, there are two “teams” of spooks involved.  Putin’s and then our “home” team.  It may even be way more complicated than that…He needs to be careful in the shower.  I wouldnt want to be him right now…

  108. 108.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @Uncle Cosmo:

     

    Opinion Finally, a Sunday anchor puts his foot down on Espionagegate

    On Sunday, that came from George Stephanopoulos on ABC News’s “This Week” in an interview with retiring Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). His upcoming retirement is noteworthy since he should have zero reason to fear Trump’s wrath or prostrate himself in front of the MAGA crowd. And yet he did.

    …

    Frankly, the question of fitness for office should have been a major focus of coverage as soon as Republicans took Trump’s side in the “big lie” and refused to impeach or even investigate him. Now, they declare their determination to investigate the attorney general and the president’s son. No national party that contemplates such a betrayal of the country’s interests should escape scrutiny — and no respectable media outlet should treat the GOP as a normal party.

  110. 110.

    ETtheLibrarian

    He definitely want to distract people from his problems but anyone taking marching orders from him deserves all the the US Code volumes thrown at them.

  112. 112.

    Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    You might try this :

    • Copy the link
    • Go to wayback.archive.org
    • Paste the link into the search textbox
    • Click the ‘Enter’ key or its equivalent on your device’s keyboard
    • If an archived copy is found, click its link to read the article.

    Here’s the resulting link, for this particular article:

    http://web.archive.org/web/20220829131305/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/29/roy-blunt-republicans-trump-wrongdoing/

    “Good luck everybody!”

  113. 113.

    lgerard

    @Soprano2:

    The people who used to opine about how “uncivil” it was for someone to say “fuck” now put big banners on their houses and in their truck beds that say “Fuck Biden”, and other similar things. There are three of them in my neighborhood that I know of.

    Funny how that is OK for kids to read on signs, just not in books

  118. 118.

    Geminid

    @MisterForkbeard: Ok, they are threatening riots if trump is indicted. So, do you think they will follow through in significant numbers? And will they attack communities that can shoot back?

    Graham’s remarks remind me of Shakespeare’s Owen Glendower, who bragged that he could “call spirits forth from the lofty deep.” Another character responded, “yes, but will they come?”

    This is out of my hands anyway, but I expect authorities to indict trump if it is justified without regard to threatened consequences. I live in a red county full of weapons, but I  don’t see my neighbors rampaging through minority neighborhoods in Richmond or DC for trump’s sake.

  119. 119.

    artem1s

    @Geminid:

    I  don’t see my neighbors rampaging through minority neighborhoods in Richmond or DC for trump’s sake.

    I’d expect to see protests in purple states at the state house. And in red states where the MAGAt know the governor is a weak kneed DeWine and won’t call out the national guard on them.

  121. 121.

    Tehanu

    What I don’t understand is why some intrepid reporter — assuming there is such a person these days — doesn’t find out exactly what Dump has on Miz Lindsay.  I just have trouble believing anybody would do such a complete about-face without being blackmailed into it.  If it’s not blackmail, I guess it could be just shameless switching sides to back a winner, which is … well, “treachery” is a word that comes to mind.

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