Tag: capitol hill
trump

The MAGA Culture Of Menace Is Not A Surprise

When Republicans claim to be shocked by threats of violence that have repeatedly marred their party's contest for speaker of the House, it is hard to suppress a bitter laugh. The malignant direction of their party over the past several years is no secret — and although many of them are too cowardly to identify the poison's source, everyone knows his name.

That would be former President Donald J. Trump.

Everyone knows because Trump has hardly tried to conceal his increasingly sinister conduct and has tried not at all to pacify the legions of goons who menace his perceived enemies. What once might have been described as an undercurrent of brutality and bullying in the MAGA movement has long since become its dominant theme. Not "patriotism" and not "conservatism," but much closer to fascism and sadism, which have always slithered along together.

Nobody should have been surprised, least of all Republican elected officials, when supporters of Rep. Jim Jordan, Trump's selection for speaker, began a sickening campaign to terrorize his opponents. Wholly unqualified for that constitutional post by temperament or achievement — he has never authored a successful bill in 16 years on Capitol Hill — Jordan deserved no consideration, and it is hard to say how many of the votes he received were somehow coerced. But the campaign that culminated in his humiliating rejection by the GOP conference began with a familiar pattern: an escalating pattern of threats that the MAGA gang dismissed, excused and encouraged, before cynically pretending to urge a return to decent behavior.

We have seen and heard all this before, too many times, ever since Trump first excreted his racist imprecations and calls for violence during the 2016 presidential campaign. The tape of a Jordan supporter uttering obscene threats to "molest" the wife of a dissident Republican congressman is the soundtrack of Trumpism.

And after CNN anchor Jake Tapper played that tape for Rep. Michael McCaul, a Jordan backer, he said, "Calls like that started happening immediately. Jordan didn't denounce it until last night. What is going on in your party?" McCaul's feeble response that "this is the level of discourse in our country" evoked a bluntly honest retort from Tapper: "No. In your party, sir; in your party."

Over and over again, the MAGA cult within the Republican Party has promoted, excused, and even celebrated savagery against the opponents whom it has dehumanized. It was Democrats who censured Rep. Paul Gosar after he posted a video that depicted him murdering Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — and it was Rep. Kevin McCarthy, then the minority leader, who tried to defend him from the mild rebuke of censure. It is Democrats, with a few exceptions, who have sought to hold the January 6 mob accountable for that deadly coup attempt — and it is Republicans who promised to pardon them. Out in their districts, Republicans encounter constituents who talk openly about killing Democrats, and rarely have the guts to rebuke them.

Having spent years inciting that bloody mindset, Trump has warned of the unprecedented destruction that will consume the country if he and his supporters are angered. He frequently declares his critics and opponents worthy of death — as when he suggested that Gen. Mark Milley, a highly decorated military officer who served at the highest rank, should be executed. He makes morbid and disgusting "jokes," as when he recently mocked the near-fatal assault on Paul Pelosi, the elderly husband of former speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Indeed, the catalogue of Trump's brutish declarations is almost as lengthy as his lies. But what has transformed the Republican Party from a democratic institution into a harbinger of authoritarian cruelty is the failure of its elected members to speak up for decency. After all that Trump and his minions like Jordan have done to defile their political traditions, the great majority of Republican officeholders still line up obediently.

Now the monstrous entity that they nurtured has turned on the Republicans themselves. But very few of them have the wisdom — or the character — to learn from that chilling experience.

To find out more about Joe Conason and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Reprinted with permission from Creators.

How Trump Profiteered From Mideast Ties In The White House

How Trump Profiteered From Mideast Ties In The White House

The government watchdog group Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington (CREW) published a bombshell report on Thursday that former President Donald Trump raked in millions of dollars from five Middle East nations while he was in the White House.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Kuwait were all identified as having deep monied ties to Trumpworld, which CREW uncovered from the indicted ex-commander-in-chief's income disclosures.

CREW's discovery comes amid investigations into allegations made by Trump and congressional Republicans that President Joe Biden and his family engaged in corruption in Ukraine and China.

"Trump made at least $9.6 million from countries in the Middle East during his presidency, according to years of reporting and a CREW analysis of his tax returns," CREW found. "That means Trump pulled in at least six times his official presidential salary in side income from the Middle East alone during his time in office. The total is likely much higher, but public reporting only sheds light on the most high-profile instances of profiteering, and he is only required to report certain types of income on his tax returns."

Trump's refusal to divest, or separate, himself from his family's financial entanglements sparked "an endless number of conflicts of interest by blurring the lines between the government and his businesses," CREW explained. "The profiteering paid off, and Trump raked in tens of millions from international business interests during his time in office."

Trump and his friends on Capitol Hill "frequently visited and held events at his clubs, hotels and golf courses, advertising to those looking to influence the government that Trump properties were open for business. Foreign governments and officials in particular took advantage of the open opportunity to ingratiate themselves with the president," CREW revealed.

"The $9.6 million that we know Trump made from Middle Eastern countries during his presidency is likely just the tip of the iceberg. CREW tracked conflicts of interest involving multiple countries that are not even present on his tax returns. For example, officials from Iraq, Oman and Yemen made visits to Trump properties while he was president. Because we don't know the total cost for these visits, we did not include them in the tally," wrote Crew. "What we do know is that becoming president was Trump's best business decision, and his tax returns show how great the office was for his bottom line. As the 2024 election creeps closer, foreign interests including those in the Middle East are already buying access to Trump and pouring money into his pockets."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

McCarthy Screens Antisemitic Qanon-Themed Movie For House Members (VIDEO)

McCarthy Screens Antisemitic Qanon-Themed Movie For House Members (VIDEO)

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) invited lawmakers to a Tuesday night screening of a film that reviews described as antisemitic to help improve workplace morale on Capitol Hill.

Since he obtained the gavel in January, McCarthy has struggled to herd fringe Republicans in the House whose constituencies are often populated by QAnon fans. A sizeable number of these congresspersons are staunch defenders of indicted former President Donald Trump and his debunked lies about the 2020 election. In addition to intra-GOP squabbling, deep partisan gullies between the two major parties regarding an exhaustive host of issues reliably lead to drama inside the chamber.

McCarthy's olive branch is a presentation of Sound of Freedom starring Jim Caviezel, whom National Public Radio noted last week has "been a prominent promoter of the false, violent QAnon conspiracy theory — specifically, the baseless claim that an international cabal of elites is abusing and killing children to extract a substance called adrenochrome."

Although the production avoids that one topic and was released prior to QAnon's spread, it contains other ideas that resonate with QAnon's believers.

Sound of Freedom "draws from a conspiratorial well that includes a number of anti-Jewish canards, including the 'blood libel' accusation," The Times of Israel explained.

"The adrenochrome theory has roots in a blood libel canard leveled at Jews since the Middle Ages," QAnon researcher Mike Rothschild told the outlet. "The myth that Jews use the blood of Christian children in rituals was used to justify the torture, imprisonment, and murder of Jews for centuries, even taking a role in Nazi propaganda, before it was adopted by QAnon."


McCarthy asserted at a press conference that Sound of Freedom's theme can unite political adversaries behind a common cause.

"One of my goals is to open up the house and get members working together again. We've made some great progress in that where, where bills actually come through, committees where members are now showing up for work. And so tonight I'm gonna have another movie night," McCarthy said. "I'm hoping Republicans and Democrats can come together, see a movie about human trafficking. We could actually find ways to stop the human trafficking that's continuing to move throughout the world."

Watch below or at this link.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

House Republicans Trying To Shut Down Government Again

House Republicans Resorting To Budget Blackmail Yet Again

House Republicans have threatened to shut down the government and impeach President Joe Biden, two moves that are unpopular with voters and could hurt the party in the 2024 elections.

A group of Republican lawmakers held a news conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday at which they said they would shut down the government if they don’t get the draconian spending cuts they are demanding, including billions in cuts to food stamps. Republicans are also pushing to include federal restrictions on abortion access and transgender health care in the spending bills. Congress must fund the government by Sept. 30 or it will be forced to shut down.

“We should not fear a government shutdown. Most of what we do up here is bad anyway. Most of what we do up here hurts the American people,” Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) said in a video shared by journalist Aaron Rupar.

Government shutdowns lead to suspended services that can cost the economy billions of dollars, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

“There are government services that are not being provided,” David Wessel, the director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution, said in 2019. “You can’t sell an airplane, for instance. You can’t get a question answered at the Internal Revenue Service. There are all sorts of services that people can’t get. The economists who add this up say it works out to about $2 billion a week in lost output to the economy every day the shutdown persists.”

Later on Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy held a news conference at the Capitol in which he said he’s moving toward opening an impeachment inquiry into Biden. On Tuesday night, McCarthy appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program and said that bribery allegations against Biden are “rising to the level of impeachment inquiry.” Republicans, however, are basing their allegations on a secondhand source who is currently under federal indictment on charges of being an unregistered agent for China, violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, and lying to federal investigators.

Neither shutting down the government nor impeaching Biden is popular with voters, according to public opinion polls.

Polling from 2019, the last time the government shut down, showed that 74 percent of American adults thought the shutdown was “embarrassing.” What’s more, polls taken during past shutdowns also show that Republicans often bear the brunt of the blame.

Meanwhile, a Morning Consult poll from June found that only 30 percent of voters think Republicans should prioritize impeaching Biden.

Democratic lawmakers say they will use Republicans’ efforts to further build the narrative that the Republican Party is too extreme.

“Apparently, the extreme MAGA Republican wing of the House Republican caucus would like to impeach every single federal official if they could, and I think the American people would far prefer that the Congress focus on real priorities and real issues that are impacting their daily lives,” Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) said Wednesday at a news conference on Capitol Hill with other Democratic leaders. “Certainly, we will continue to do that. It would be the prudent course for the House Republicans to do the same.”

“They have no interest in anything else except the culture wars and attacking the Biden administration,” Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA) told NBC News. DelBene, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is working to win back the House majority for Democrats, said: “Our focus is on the American people and doing the work that helps our communities. And unfortunately, they don’t seem to have any interest in doing that.”

Already, polling has shown that voters disapprove of the job House Republicans are doing. In a CNN survey conducted in January, 73% of U.S. adults said House Republican leaders “haven’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems.”

Some Republicans have tried to downplay their own party’s extreme agenda ahead of the 2024 elections.

“No one is seriously talking about impeachment right now,” Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, told NBC News. “We’re going to follow the facts wherever they go. So if we get to the point where we think that’s in the cards, I think at that point, we have to bring the American people along with us. But right now we’re just trying to get facts.”

Reprinted with permission from American Independent.