Republicans Are The Monster Hiding Under The Bed

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Free Press Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary

… Hiding under the bed in plain sight for any whose eyes are actually open.  When even Mitch McConnell is fed up, you know it’s gone from bad to worse … just as we knew it would.  There was a time that politicians at least pretended to serve the nation and its people, but that time has passed for the Republican Party.

Kevin McCarthy joins the insurrection

By Dana Milbank

10 March 2023

Not since the Know-Nothing Party disappeared in the 1850s has a public figure boasted about his ignorance with as much gusto as Kevin McCarthy does.

It doesn’t seem to matter what you ask the speaker of the House. He hasn’t read it, seen it or heard about it.

The explosive documents from the Dominion case showing Fox News hosts privately said Donald Trump’s election lies were hokum but promoted the lies on air anyway?

“I didn’t read all that. I didn’t see all that,” McCarthy told The Post.

The way Fox News’s Tucker Carlson (predictably) manipulated the Jan. 6, 2021, security footage McCarthy (foolishly) gave the propagandist, giving the false appearance that the bloody insurrection was “mostly peaceful”?

“I didn’t see what was aired,” McCarthy asserted.

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, in an implicit rebuke of McCarthy, blasting the Carlson propaganda while holding up a statement from the Capitol Police chief denouncing Fox News’s “outrageous,” “false” and “offensive” portrayal of the insurrection?

You guessed it. McCarthy “didn’t see” McConnell do that.

The benighted McCarthy has been amassing this impressive body of obtuseness for some time. If ignorance is bliss, the California Republican has been in nirvana for years now.

How about Trump’s speech on the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, provoking the sacking of the Capitol?

“I didn’t watch it,” McCarthy said.

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) calling the insurrectionists’ rampage a “normal tourist visit”?

“I don’t know what Congressman Clyde said,” quoth McCarthy, and “I didn’t see it.”

When his own designated negotiator reached a bipartisan agreement to form a commission to probe the Jan. 6 attack (a commission McCarthy ultimately killed)?

“I haven’t read through it.”

Trump, in a recorded phone call, demanding Georgia’s secretary of state “find” enough votes to overturn the election results?

“I have to hear it first.”

Trump telling four congresswomen of color (three of them U.S.-born) to “go back” where they came from, prompting chants of “send her back” among his rallygoers?

“I didn’t get to see the rally.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) harassing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) with shouts and slander just off the House floor?

“I didn’t see that. I don’t know what happened.”

Trump’s ludicrous allegation that former GOP congressman and MSNBC host Joe Scarborough may have murdered a staffer?

“I don’t quite know about the subject itself. I don’t know this subject well.”

Trump’s scandalous claim that Democrats inflated the death toll from a hurricane in Puerto Rico to “make me look as bad as possible”?

“I haven’t read it yet,” McCarthy pleaded.

At best, McCarthy’s willful cluelessness is just a dodge. But this week, McCarthy’s see-no-evil approach was just plain evil.

After Carlson aired his phony portrayal of the insurrection, several Republicans finally spoke up about Fox News’s lies: “Inexcusable and bull—-” (Sen. Thom Tillis, N.C.), “whitewashing” (Sen. Lindsey Graham, S.C.), “dangerous and disgusting” (Sen. Mitt Romney, Utah).

Then there was McCarthy, questioned by reporters just outside the speaker’s office, which the supposedly “peaceful” insurrectionists had ransacked that terrible day.

“Do you regret giving him this footage so he could whitewash the events of that day?” asked CNN’s Manu Raju.

“No,” McCarthy replied, adding some gibberish about “transparency” (which is the very opposite of Carlson’s fabrication).

“Do you agree with his portrayal of what happened that day?” Raju pressed.

“Look,” McCarthy said. “Each person can come up with their own conclusion.”

Talk about dangerous and disgusting. Given a choice between fact and fiction, between law and anarchy, between democracy and thuggery, the speaker of the House proclaimed his agnosticism. In doing so, he threw the power of the speakership behind the insurrectionists and against the constitutional order he swore to uphold. McCarthy’s leadership team even endorsed Carlson’s fakery, promoting a link to the segment from the House GOP conference’s official Twitter account with four alarm emojis and a “MUST WATCH” recommendation.

Of course, were McCarthy to turn against Fox News, the speaker, weakened by the promises he made to secure the speakership, would be swiftly replaced by the likes of GOP caucus chair Elise Stefanik of New York (who claimed Carlson’s propaganda “demolished” the “Democrats’ dishonest narrative” about Jan. 6), or Rep. Tom Massie (R-Ky.), who went on Carlson’s show to congratulate him on his deception.

So McCarthy sells out democracy to preserve his title. He gave the security footage to Carlson in the first place because he promised that to the far-right Republicans denying him the speakership during his 15-ballot quinceañera in January.

Even Fox Corp.’s chairman, Rupert Murdoch, has expressed some regret over the network’s role in perpetrating Trump’s “big lie,” saying it should have been “stronger in denouncing it.” The internal documents exposed in the Dominion lawsuit show beyond any doubt that Fox News hosts knew the truth about the 2020 election and yet encouraged viewers night after night to believe Trump’s lies.

Those hosts continue to deceive and manipulate viewers nightly. The same day Carlson aired his Jan. 6 fabrication, Trump said on Sean Hannity’s radio show that he would have been willing to let Vladimir Putin “take over” parts of Ukraine. But when Hannity played excerpts of the interview on Fox News, the network edited out Trump’s proposed surrender.

The latest Fox News lies have proven too much for the Senate GOP leader. Though McConnell has enabled Trump at crucial moments, he said at a news conference this week that it was “a mistake” for Fox News to portray the insurrection “in a way that’s completely at variance with what our chief law enforcement official here in the Capitol thinks.”

Yet McCarthy continues to put himself before his country. In just two months on the job, McCarthy “already … has done more than any party leader in Congress to enable the spread of Donald Trump’s Big Lie,” the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, charged on the Senate floor this week. The speaker, he said, “has made our democracy weaker.”

And McCarthy isn’t finished with his depredations. Greene, given a position of influence and respectability by the speaker, is launching a probe, complete with a field trip to a D.C. jail, into the “inhumane treatment” allegedly suffered by the accused insurrectionists awaiting trial. McCarthy has also given the green light to a new probe designed to challenge the conclusions of the Jan. 6 committee. The man who will lead that panel, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), declared this week that Americans “didn’t see the other side” of the insurrection.

“I think the truth is going to be somewhere between the violent videos and the supposedly peaceful actions there,” he said.

No. The only truth is that Jan. 6 was a violent attack on the seat of American democracy. There was nothing peaceful about an armed insurrection attempting to overturn an election — even if some people there that day weren’t themselves violent.

But that truth — and this democracy — are threatened by a dangerously weak speaker of the House, who has concluded that the only way to preserve his own power is to support Fox News in its sabotage of this country.

23 thoughts on “Republicans Are The Monster Hiding Under The Bed”

  1. There are so many variables and factors over the last 4-5 decades that have effected THIS type of national mentality (or sheer ignorance) and gross negligence of our public education system (primary to secondary, then under-grad) that has GREATLY contributed to a widespread nationwide stupidity and lack of equitable critical-thinking skills—which in turn has led to widespread ignorance of civic duties, privileges, and virtues… or the LACK of them in action by We the People.

    How Kevin McCarthy got elected in California in the first place is beyond my comprehension. However, that said, one of the most damaging actions or reactions or lack thereof by NON-Republicans has been voter turnout rates over the last said 4-5 decades! A silent majority simply become SLAVES to the powerful, wealthy minority when they GIVE AWAY their voice, their civic duties to be represented in a Republic Constitutional democracy, and instead sit on their asses and do nothing, especially go vote every 2-yrs MINIMUM!!! 😡

    So the decay and collapse of the U.S. of A. will fall squarely on its indifferent, ignorant American citizens. No one else.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I FULLY agree with you that our system of education is failing miserably to teach the critical thinking skills necessary to understand what the politicians are really saying they will do, to understand even how government works! I’d be willing to bet that 90% of the people in this country have not even read the Constitution!

      Agreed that it’s a mystery how McCarthy got elected in a very progressive state, but I understand that his district is rural/red.

      Yes, the responsibility falls on We the People … and sadly far too many are not properly educated and don’t care to listen to those who are, but prefer the excitement of the raucous conspiracy theorists, prefer the entertainment value of the Republicans to the integrity and ethics of the Democrats. Sigh.

      Liked by 1 person

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  3. Pingback: Republicans Are The Monster Hiding Under The Bed | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

  5. Dear Jill; as a ‘neutral’ reader in a ‘neutral’ country I can no longer comment on your posts. I read them, they make me shudder with incomprehension and I pity your country and its people from the bottom of my heart – but my mind boggles with every new post of new atrocity I read about. I think I would have had to leave the country by now. I couldn’t ‘handle’ all of this any longer. You have my admiration for reporting those issues but I fear it isn’t doing your health any good.
    But then, you can’t ignore it either…. So, it’s by all means an impossible situation, but all the talking about won’t change it, or does it?
    Reading the above, I thought to myself: THIS is probably the reason why this guy WAS eventually …. made speaker. What a fake control mechanism is that then?

    Liked by 3 people

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    • Kiki, many of us in Jill’s WordPress circle, including myself, have all increasingly talked about how many of us WILL INDEED become expatriates if the Orange Orangutan (i.e. tRumpsky) gets re-elected again in 2024 and hasn’t already been put behind bars for the exhaustive list of criminal acts, sabotage, and dereliction of Constitutional duties he took a vow to uphold!!! 🤬 (and that emoji, btw, only barely expresses my own infuriation with my native country!)

      What nation do you live in? Can we all come live with you in 2024-25 if the baby Orange Orangutan is re-elected? 😉

      Liked by 2 people

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    • I fully understand your position, my friend. I’m honoured that you still read my posts, and hope you always feel free to comment if you wish to, but I don’t expect you to at any point. ‘Tis your call. I, and others, have considered leaving the country and I am still considering it, but it is not as easily done as it is said. If Trump or DeSantis win the election in 2024, I will have no choice, for I cannot live under a dictatorship, but that’s more than a year and a half away, and a lot can happen during that time. You’re right … it is NOT doing my health any good, but at age 72, I cannot expect to be here much longer anyway. And, I cannot be anyone other than who I am … an interested person who cannot simply tune it all out. I like to think that maybe a few people listen to my words and are inspired to do their own part to help the situation. Thanks for caring, dear Kiki! ❤

      Liked by 1 person

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  6. Thank you for sharing!.. knowledge and technology has made us aware of what has been there over the centuries and there are monsters everywhere in the world… the real monster lies with the people who put the McCarthy’s, politicians, leaders, etc. in power so they will pursue and protect the peoples ideologies and beliefs…. I am sure that McCarthy is keeping that in mind as he pursues his personal goals… 🙂

    Hopefully the world can use that same technology and knowledge and over time deal with the monster, in a civilized manner, and make this world a better place… “Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” (Barack Obama ).. 🙂

    Hope all is well in your part of the universe and your path is paved with love and peace and until we meet again..
    May the road rise to meet you
    May the wind be always at your back
    May the sun shine warm upon your face
    The rains fall soft upon your fields
    May green be the grass you walk on
    May blue be the skies above you
    May pure be the joys that surround you
    May true be the hearts that love you.
    (Irish Saying)

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Well said, my friend! And good to see you — it’s been a while. I hope all is well in your part of the universe as well.

      You are right … it’s the people who put the monsters into office that are the real monsters, but … sadly they are ignorant of the consequences of their actions (votes), for they have been fed a pack of lies and are not well qualified to understand fact from fiction. But again you are right when you say that it is up to us to bring about the change we hope to see.

      Many thanks for the lovely Irish Saying, and for dropping in today — I’ve missed you!

      Like

      Reply

  7. As head of the Screen Actors Guild in the 50s, Ronald Readan could never remember anything that might get him in trouble. As Governor of California his favourite line was, “I don’t remember!” And he used the same line numerous times as President of the USA. McCafthy comes by his promectec stupidity honestly, as in “”Honestly, I don’t remember seeing that!” Sure Kevin, you can’t see anything at all, can you, except the numbers on your big paycheck that you have never earned.

    Liked by 2 people

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