For months prior to the November 2022 Election that catapulted the GOP to a razor-thin majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, many GOP House members presaged their intentions to launch broad, full-scale investigations into Democrats due to their weaponization of governmental agencies and institutions. The most ardent far right members of the Republican Caucus in the House fought to and succeeded in extracting an array of concessions from Kevin McCarthy amid his quest to secure the Speaker’s gavel. One of their top demands was that he provide robust funding and sweeping jurisdiction to a special committee to investigate their claims of pervasive bias in the federal government against conservatives.
Interestingly, the first public hearing of the new Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, back on February 9, produced virtually nothing in the way of new evidence about government misconduct, or of targeting the right. Rather, most of the forum focused on reiterating old, mostly debunked grievances about how former President Donald J. Trump and others have been treated by federal law enforcement officials, Democrats, and the news media.
The proceeding was so devoid of even right-wing worthy news that Fox News cut away and declined to carry most of it. Anchor John Roberts said, before cutting away, “We’ll get back into it for anything newsworthy.”
Fast forward roughly 6 weeks; it looks as though the GOP has not only figured out what the weaponization of the federal government is, but in the service of the Party’s de facto leader, Donald Trump, has decided to do just that.
Mr. Trump’s GOP allies in the House are doing what the former president taught them to do – use power to try to keep his legal threats a bay.
Last week, without evidence, Trump said he could be arrested Tuesday (yesterday/he wasn’t). Nevertheless, in response to his symbolic cry for help, some would call it a dog whistle, his cohorts and cronies have been using their new House majority to demand Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s testimony and to thwart his investigation relating an alleged hush money payment to an adult film star before the 2016 election. It looks, feels like an extraordinary attempt to influence an open grand jury investigation.
In short, it appears the House GOP appears to be using the exact same tactic they accuse the Biden Administration, Bragg, and any other Trump investigators of doing – weaponizing the powers of the government to advance a partisan political end.
House Republicans are not alone. While Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan are among the lower chamber’s elite who’ve stepped up to run interference for Trump. Both are clear beneficiaries, satellites in the Trump orbit. But even his newest political adversary, Ron DeSantis, has joined the fray, attempting to besmirch the investigation…while issuing an ever-so-slight admonishment of his rival. After making a perfunctory diss about the scope of the investigation against Trump, DeSantis pivoted. The Florida governor took a jab atTrump, noting, he didn’t know anything about “paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair.”
Not surprisingly, Trump was not amused. He responded with a vicious screed, full of unsubstantiated innuendo about Ron DeSanctimonious’ (sic) personal life. Suffice it to say, the exchange is apt to be just a prelude to the sparks that may be ignited in the pending campaign for the GOP nomination. “TrumpWorld: The Best Defense Is A Good Offense!”
I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.
To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right-hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.
For more detailed information on a variety of aspects related to this post, consult the links below:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/21/politics/republicans-trump-playbook/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/us/weaponization-committee-house-republicans.html
http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2023/03/trumpworld-best-defense-is-good-offense.html
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment