Do they even believe their own bs?by digby
Have these Trump henchmen convinced themselves that their conspiracy theories are true? I am honestly on the fence about this. I watch some of them on television and I honestly think they are dumb enough to believe this craziness. Others, like Ryan and McConnell are obviously just craven opportunists. But I do wonder what the ratio of moron to cynic really is.
Make no mistake, Nunes and his co-conspirators don’t believe there’s an actual Deep State conspiracy at the FBI or the intelligence agencies. This boundlessly cynical plot is an attempt to shield Donald Trump not just from Bob Mueller’s Russia investigation, but from any form of accountability or oversight. I have to give them credit their brazen effort. The coordination between Fox News, the Trump Uber Alles caucus in the House, talk radio, and the online Cray Vortex is rather impressive. In the Best Supporting Hackers role, the Russians chimed in right on cue to amplify the GOP’s message. Call me old fashioned, but I remember when working hand-in-hand with a hostile foreign government to undermine American institutions was called “treason.” The story was falling apart even before the Moron Caucus beclowned themselves with the “Secret Society” theme, because the memo obviously hadn’t done enough to reduce the Republicans in stature and seriousness. Seizing on a single, obviously joking text message, Sen. Ron Johnson took to the microphones to describe the FBI’s alleged “Secret Society” as if he had watched Eyes Wide Shut enough times to memorize it. Fidelio, Ron. Fidelio.
When confronted with the risible absurdity of his claim, Johnson said “informants” had told them about the dark, satanic orgies of the FBI. Within hours, he denied all of it in an embarrassingly clumsy walk back. From the Trump-right obsession with “Q-Anon” as a source of Deep State gibberish to the uncritical acceptance of even the most outrageously absurd rumors, the GOP is becoming defined as a party of conspiracy. It’s is a bad look for a governing party, and it’s getting worse by the day.
They’ve been at this a long time, I’m sorry to say:
It has gone more mainstream, I admit, with Sean Hannity basically turning himself into the Alex Jones of Fox News and Devin Nunes barking at the moon about “the Real Russia Scandal” of Hillary Clinton. But their go-to strategy has been conspiracy theories for a very long time.
Look who the Republican voters of this country elected president:
.