Trumpism has come to this
“When Democrats control the House we pass the laws—when Republicans control, what do we get? We get stupid stuff like this dumb hearing,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.).
Lieu appeared with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes after Wednesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on special counsel John Durham’ report on his investigation into the F.B.I.’s investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election. (If you have to read that again, I’ll wait.)
And what did Durham find after four years? CNN summarizes, “that the FBI should have only launched a preliminary, but not full, investigation into connections between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.”
A New York Post editorial considers that “gross FBI and Justice Department malfeasance.” Democrats on the committee consider the Durham report, which did not dispute Robert Mueller’s conclusions (and multiple convictions) surrounding 2016 Russian interference, a frivolous waste of time.
CNN:
Despite repeated claims from Trump and Republicans that the Biden administration has “weaponized” the Justice Department, Durham said there wasn’t any political interference with his work. He testified that Attorney General Merrick Garland, a Biden appointee, didn’t block any of his moves, didn’t reach out to discuss the probe, and didn’t meddle with the investigation.
[…]
After four years, Durham only secured one conviction against a low-level FBI lawyer for doctoring one email related to the surveillance of an ex-Trump campaign aide. Durham’s jury trials against a Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer and Trump-Russia dossier source both ended with embarrassing acquittals last year.
So Lieu made sure to spotlight the close Trump associates who were convicted for other crimes.
“Inevitable pudding-wrestling”
More stupid.
Proving Lieu’s point, Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado are pulling each other’s hair (only figuratively, so far) over who gets to try impeaching President Joe Biden (Daily Beast):
The messy feud between two of MAGA world’s biggest stars burst into public view on Wednesday, when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) a “little bitch” to her face on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The angry exchange came as the two lawmakers have been swiping at each other over their competing resolutions to impeach President Joe Biden. But tensions came to a head on Wednesday after Boebert leveraged a procedural tool to force a vote on her own impeachment resolution within days—undercutting Greene, who had offered her own resolution, but not with the procedural advantages of forcing a vote.
The two “lawmakers” had an exchange on the House floor captured by C-SPAN’s cameras.
According to two sources that saw the exchange and a third familiar with the matter, the back and forth began when Boebert approached Greene—then seated in the chamber—and confronted her over “statements you made about me publicly.” All three of the sources said Greene called Boebert a “bitch.” One of the sources said Greene called her “a little bitch.”
According to two of the sources, Greene then stood up and alleged that Boebert “copied my articles of impeachment,” to which the Colorado lawmaker fired back that she hadn’t even read Greene’s resolution.
Lieu weighed in again on Twitter: “Democrats put #PeopleOverPolitics and passed a bipartisan infrastructure law to grow our economy. What are MAGA Republicans focused on? Performative stupid stuff.”
“We could just cut to the chase and let them get on with the inevitable pudding-wrestling,” quipped the Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson.
Cage matches
Still more stupid.
Perhaps Green and Borbert would agree to a double-bill cage match?
Alex Heath at The Verge writes:
After Elon Musk recently tweeted that he would be “up for a cage fight” with Zuckerberg, the Meta CEO shot back by posting a screenshot of Musk’s tweet with the caption “send me location.”
I’ve confirmed that Zuckerberg’s post on his Instagram account is, in fact, not a joke, which means the ball is now in Musk’s court. “The story speaks for itself,” Meta spokesperson Iska Saric told me.
“*Not satire,” tweeted The Intellectualist.
No. It’s farce.
Have Americans really sunk so low as to allow Trumpism another chance at wielding power in 2024? If we last that long?
Don’t answer that.