When Will Republicans Start Physically Beating Up Women Colleagues?

The story about how a pro-slave fanatic, Rep. Preston Brooks (D-SC) brutally beat an abolitionist, Senator Charles Sumner (R-MA), unconscious on the floor with a cane on the Senate floor in 1856, is well known by anyone who has studied the lead up to the Civil War. Less well known is that by 1858 "partisan tensions over slavery erupted into a 'full-fledged sectional combat on the floor.' This was one year after the U.S. Supreme Court enraged abolitionists by ruling in Dred Scott v. Sanford that black people couldn’t be citizens and the federal government couldn’t ban slavery in western territories. The brawl started around 2:00 a.m. during an overnight session when a southern representative grabbed a northern representative by the throat and said he would teach the 'black republican puppy' a lesson. As the two white men struggled, their colleagues ran over and a fistfight broke out. The end result was a free fight in the open space in front of the Speaker’s platform featuring roughly thirty sweaty, disheveled, mostly middle-aged congressmen in a no-holds-barred brawl, North against South... Acts of violence like this showed how intensely southern congressmen wanted to preserve the economic, political and social power that they and their constituents held through owning slaves. They also presaged the larger fight between North and South that broke out three years later, when southern states seceded and declared war on the Union. After all, civil wars don’t just come out of nowhere."

No, they don't, do they? And yesterday it was cowardly southern dogs, doing what they do best: threatening women colleagues. First it was a concerted attack, led by pig-person Matt Gaetz of the Florida panhandle, demanding that Liz Cheney step down as Republican House Conference chair-- the only woman in the Republican leadership-- for not supporting Trump enough. The whole neo-fascist wing of the House GOP piled on, from Gym Jordan to Louie Gohmert-- and all the scarping from the bottom of the sewer system between. Apparently the anti-mask contingent were all in a huff because Cheney is pro-mask. Jordan and Andy Biggs screeching about her being pro-Fauci and Biggs "accused Cheney of undermining the GOP’s ability to win back the House and said that if someone has a problem with Trump, they should keep it to themselves."

The way the beat down started was weird. Gaetz was bitching about how Cheney supported Thomas Massie's primary opponent before he complained she was supportive of Trump. The problem there is that the person leading the charge against Massie was... Señor Trumpanzee himself. Aside from Jordan, a Confederate at hearts, only southern males attacked her: Gohmert (TX), Chip Roy (TX)-- who is about to be beaten by a woman for his seat and is flipping out-- Ralph Norman (SC)...




Meanwhile two more Southern gentlemen of the radical right, very much like Preston Brooks-- neo-fascist Ted Yoho of Florida and crooked used car salesman Roger Williams of Texas-- accosted AOC and started hurling expletives at her. Neither took a crap in their hands to throw it at her because there were witnesses around. Yoho was heard by a reporter called her a "fucking bitch," Williams chimed in and then when the news broke, they both denied it and called her a liar, refusing to address the problem of the witnesses, let alone apologizing. (This morning, Yoho made a disingenuous non-apology ("I cannot apologize for my passion... the offensive name-calling words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues and if they were construed that way...") apology on the House floor. Williams is still claiming nothing happened.)

How Sure Are You Trump Is A Fascist-- And Is That News To You Or Have You Known All Along?

With the exception of Putin-puppet Michael Flynn, Trump has now publicly denounced all of "his" generals. Thursday night, in a typically school yard insulting way, he went after his former Chief of Staff, General John Kelly.

Friday morning Kelly slammed back in an interview with former White House communications director and ex-Trump crony, who Kelly had fired. He told the Mooch he agrees with Jim Mattis' assessment that Trump is "the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people."

"There is a concern" Kelly said, "I think an awful big concern, that the partisanship has gotten out of hand, the tribal thing has gotten out of hand. He's quite a man, Jim Mattis, and for him to do that tells you where he is relative to the concern he has for our country."

If that won't get Trump running back to his Twitter account, Kelly clearly seemed to be urging people to vote against him in November. "I think we need to look harder at who we elect. I think we should look at people that are running for office and put them through the filter: What is their character like? What are their ethics?"

Trump always polls very poorly on character issues. Last week's YouGov poll, for example, asked respondents if they believe Trump's tweets. 7% said all the time and 17% said most of the time-- that adds up to 24%. On the other hand, 38% said they don't believe anything Trump tweets and 16% said they believe some of it (but less than half), which adds up to 54%.

Later in the survey, respondents were asked if they think Trump is honest and trustworthy. Only 31% responded affirmatively. A majority of Americans say he is neither honest nor trustworthy-- including people in every region of the country.

YouGov never asks people if they think Trump is a fascist. This week, Pulitzer Prize winner James Risen asserted that Trump is an autocrat and that it's up to the rest of us to stop him. He started with 4 questions, each aimed at a different group:

• I have a question for American leftists: Do you finally see the difference between the Democrats and Donald Trump?
• I have a question for American right-wingers: Do you finally see that it is Trump who will take your guns?
• I have a question for American evangelicals: Do you finally see that Trump is the one who will close your churches?
• I have a question for Republican members of Congress: Do you finally see that you will be in the camps too?

I doubt there are any leftists-- not even Democratic Party haters like myself-- who ever missed seeing the difference between the Democrats and Trump, but the other questions make some sense. "Dictatorships," he wrote, "are built on denial. Dictators take over gradually; each incremental step that erodes civil liberties and the rule of law can be justified and explained away. Sometimes a would-be dictator is laughed off as a political buffoon who shouldn’t be taken seriously. While it is happening, no one can quite believe that they are on the road to serfdom. Autocrats often enjoy broad public support for their crackdowns. Initially, they target the 'others,' while the majority cheers. The public doesn’t recognize the threat until it is too late. The supporters who cheered the loudest are often caught up in ideological purges and become some of the regime’s earliest victims. After nearly four years in office, it is impossible to miss what Trump truly is. He is a psychopath who lusts for dictatorial powers. He has jettisoned everyone from the government who might get in his way. He is now surrounded by enablers in jackboots like Attorney General William Barr and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo."

Gen. Mark Milley, a lickspittle who claims to be an American military officer, strolled through the streets of Washington, D.C. on Monday night with Trump and Barr while U.S. military personnel were illegally being used to attack protesters and shove them out of the way so that Trump could pose for a photo holding a Bible in front of graffiti-covered St. John’s Episcopal Church. The men had the look of coup plotters bent on seizing the government in the dark of night.

That same evening, military helicopters hovered low over Washington, just over the heads of demonstrators who were protesting the May 25 murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police. The noise and downward air blasts from the helicopters were used to disperse crowds. (Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said that the Pentagon asked Maryland and Virginia for troops without the knowledge of the D.C. government.) It was one of the most shameful episodes involving the use of the U.S. military in the nation’s capital since 1932, when the Army infamously used tanks and tear gas to attack protesters known as the “Bonus Army,” World War I veterans camped out to demand long-promised bonuses.

Trump gave away his game Monday night. A scheming man of no moral convictions, he figured that holding a Bible would be enough to rally his white evangelical base.

He said nothing as he stood, Bible in hand, for the photographers in front of the church, but it was easy to guess what he was thinking. He was probably thinking that evangelicals are chumps, morons who always fall for his cheap tricks. It’s not hard to discern that Trump looks down on evangelicals, resents them for how easy it is to manipulate them, and will turn on them as soon as he no longer needs them.

Washington Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde readily saw through Trump after his photo-op in front at St. John’s. “The president just used the Bible, our sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches of my diocese, without permission, as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus,” she said.

The next day, Trump stood for photos at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, doubling down on his shabby game of exploiting religious iconography. This time, he was going for conservative Catholics, rather than evangelicals, but the act was the same. The Catholic archbishop of Washington quickly attacked Trump’s visit to the shrine, just as Budde had attacked his photo-op in front of St. John’s the day before.

Meanwhile, in the White House Rose Garden on Monday, the president vowed to protect “Second Amendment rights.” Once again, Trump proved that he thinks his supporters are idiots who can be exploited with simple, coded phrases. The gun rights activists who rave enthusiastically about giving Trump expansive powers may soon have troops knocking at their doors as helicopters hover overhead. When that happens, they may feel, too late, an unexpected kinship with the protesters they now disparage.

Trump bared his authoritarian intentions in a conference call with state governors Monday, in which he berated them for being weak in the face of protests, demanding that they “dominate” the demonstrators, while threatening to send troops to their states if they didn’t accede to his demands. Trump also talked that day by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin; maybe he was getting pointers on how to crush dissent.

Trump is speeding down the path toward dictatorship because what remains of the Republican Party is eager for him to grab power. It is now a white identity party, filled with aging white people who fear the demographic trends of increasing diversity. They don’t like America as it now exists, and they want Trump to destroy the rules and laws that protect minorities, the poor, and the disadvantaged.

On Monday, Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican and Trump acolyte, offered a typical Republican response to the protests when he called for all the lethal tools of the global war on terror to be brought home and turned on American protesters. “Now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East?” Gaetz tweeted Monday. Twitter restricted access to the Gaetz tweet, labeling it a glorification of violence.

By advocating for an end to the rule of law, Republicans like Gaetz will find themselves surviving at the whim of Trump. That’s when the jokes about drones and Gitmo won’t seem so funny to them.

Anti-Science Republicans Playing Dangerous Games With Coronavirus Outbreak

Last Wednesday, the House passed H.R. 6074, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, by a lopsided bipartisan vote-- 415-2. Two far right sociopaths, Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Ken Buck (R-CO), voted against it, whining about the high cost. Several other Republicans were also whining about the cost but in the end they feared their constituents and voted for the $8.3 billion package. Crackpot Matt Gaetz, who is now in quarantine and also opposed the bill but voted for it in the end, caused a kerfuffle when he showed up to vote and make light of the pandemic in with an absurd gas-mask (a couple of days before one of his constituents died of COVID-19).

No one wants to sit near Panhandle crackpot Matt Gaetz

This is the complete bill:

This bill provides $8.3 billion in emergency funding for federal agencies to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. Within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the bill provides FY2020 supplemental appropriations for

• the Food and Drug Administration,
• the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention,
• the National Institutes of Health, and
• the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund.

In addition, the bill provides supplemental appropriations for

• the Small Business Administration,
• the Department of State, and
• the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The supplemental appropriations are designated as emergency spending, which is exempt from discretionary spending limits.

The programs funded by the bill address issues such as

• developing, manufacturing, and procuring vaccines and other medical supplies;
• grants for state, local, and tribal public health agencies and organizations;
• loans for affected small businesses;
• evacuations and emergency preparedness activities at U.S. embassies and other State Department facilities; and
• humanitarian assistance and support for health systems in the affected countries.

The bill also allows HHS to temporarily waive certain Medicare restrictions and requirements regarding telehealth services during the coronavirus public health emergency.

And then Pelosi sent it over to the Senate, Trump saying he would sign it if the Senate passed it. Rand Paul (R-KY) offered an amendment that would take the $8.3 billion from foreign ad. Not many people thought that was a good idea and it was defeated 81-15. The 15 were all Republicans, of course:

• Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
• Mike Braun (R-IN)
• Mike Crapo (R-ID)
• Ted Cruz (R-TX)-- currently quarantined
• Steve Daines (R-MT)
• Joni Ernst (R-IA)
• Ron Johnson (R-WI)
• John Kennedy (R-LA)
• James Lankford (R-OK)
• Mike Lee (R-UT)
• Kelly Loeffler (R-GA)
• Rand Paul (R-KY)
• Sonny Perdue (R-GA)
• James Risch (R-ID)
• Pat Toomey (R-PA)

When the House bill authorizing the $8.3 billion, only one person voted no, Rand Paul.

Meanwhile, Pelosi and Schumer issued a joint statement yesterday that goes even further. "We are hoping to work with the administration on a coordinated, government-wide plan to respond to the coronavirus. However, President Trump continues to manufacture needless chaos within his administration, and it is hampering the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak... The administration must move more quickly and seriously to address the severe impacts of the coronavirus on the financial security of America’s families." What they're asking for is pretty straight-forward-- paid sick leave, a temporary increase in unemployment insurance and "widespread and free" testing for the coronavirus.

How are Republicans responding to all this? Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy went on Fox's Sunday Morning Futures yesterday and told Maria Bartiromo that Pelosi didn't bring up the bill fast enough and that, in fact, she intentionally delayed it so Democrats could run Super Tuesday ads. "We should have had this bill a week earlier. The Democrats actually held this bill, so Congresswoman Bustos, who runs the DCCC, could run ads against Republicans."

The ads McCarthy was angry about noted that "The Trump administration would rather pad the pockets of drug manufacturers than provide access to an affordable coronavirus vaccine." The Democratic response to McCarthy's accusations, which he had made earlier on Laura Ingraham's show, was pretty good:

"Leader McCarthy should be embarrassed that he cares more about his political fortunes than ensuring working Americans can afford an eventual coronavirus vaccine. Washington Republicans are already blocking bipartisan House-passed legislation to bring down the cost of prescription drugs. It’s disgraceful that their obedience to drug manufacturers is holding up the government’s response to a virus that threatens millions of Americans."

Can Trump Fan Boy Matt Gaetz Be Beaten?

The Florida Panhandle has a lot more in common with Alabama than it does with the rest of Florida. In fact, if the state could somehow talk Alabama into annexing the Panhandle, Florida would be a dependably blue state. FL-01 and FL-02 are the congressional districts that take up most of the Panhandle, the first sporting a PVI of R+22 and the second, almost as hideous at R+18. They're the two reddest districts in the state. FL-01 gave Trump 67.5% of the vote, his biggest win in the state.

In 2018, in the midst of the Blue Wave, the district reelected its extreme right incumbent, Matt Gaetz, 216,189 (67.1%) to 106,199 (32.9%) for Democrat Jennifer Zimmerman. Most people would look at a district like that and see it as hopeless. The 5 counties-- Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton and Holmes-- are all Republican bastions. The Democrats don't even have a foothold anywhere in the district. But then you don't know Commander Phil Ehr, a retired naval flight officer (and chess master).

So Gaetz is a walking freak show-- a daddy's boy, drunkard, Trump butt kisser and maybe even a murderer. So he shouldn't be allowed to run without opposition. And Ehr is giving him some real opposition. Yesterday Gaetz was on The View just before Roger Stone was sentenced. He said he thinks Trump should pardon Stone. CNN:

Despite View co-host Meghan McCain's objection that Stone was "the swampiest swamp creature," Gaetz said, "Trump has pardoned 26 people. (Former President Barack) Obama pardoned over 1,700. (Former President) Bill Clinton pardoned 459."

When asked whether pardon power should be reviewed and curbed, Gaetz argued that "if you look at the original intent of pardon power, it cannot be limited."

"I would agree that Roger Stone should be pardoned if for no other reason than that there has been a double standard in this country," he added, before listing several former Justice Department and intelligence community officials whom Trump and his supporters have accused of political bias and not having faced consequences.

Ehr, a former mainstream pre-Trump Republican, doesn't see it the same way.

"Make no mistake," he told me yesterday, "undermining justice for personal or political gain, is a threat to the very foundations of our democracy. Gaetz uses recklessness, deceit, and dishonorable conduct to hide what's really going on. Every day we remain silent our democracy weakens and those who manipulate the system for their own gain move closer to becoming permanent power brokers. We need honesty in government. Matt Gaetz does not represent the great people of Northwest Florida, and I'm prepared to lead."

I hope he's right. He released the really excellent video, Cut the Noise, [up top] yesterday. Newsweek reviewed it yesterday and noted that "Ehr contrasts his long career in the military with the career of Gaetz... who uses 'information warfare' for political advantage. 'I've spent my whole life training for moments like this,' Ehr says in the ad. 'If you spend a lifetime learning how to see through the fog of war, there's one thing you learn: one of the main tools of the enemy, it's noise. Chaos meant to hide what's actually going on.' The bulk of Ehr's Naval career was spent as a pilot, flying reconnaissance missions during several conflicts during the cold war. The video likens the behavior of Gaetz to tactics that were used by the government of the Soviet Union. 'In the cold war, we watched Russia use those tactics every day,' says Ehr. 'But I never thought I'd see the day when American leaders would use information warfare against their own people.'" If you'd like to contribute to Ehr's campaign, you can do it here. It's worth it if, for nothing else, just to drive Gaetz crazy.

The Republican Party Has Allowed Itself To Die And Be Reborn As The Trumpist Party

Gangsta President by Nancy Ohanian

Two Republicans who don't know each other, diverged on their reactions to the end of the impeachment saga. Trump's top Florida butt-wipe Matt Gaetz (lately on thin ice with the Trumpists himself ) demanded Mitt Romney be thrown out of the GOP, implying strongly that the GOP is simply a vehicle for Trumpism and nothing more. Vermont's Republican governor, Phil Scott, a mainstream conservative doesn't agree and on Thursday, while Gaetz was sucking Trump's ass, he said Trump should have been removed from office by the Senate. Scott: "I believe he abused his position of power. Withholding some of those funds is inappropriate and I believe, as Sen. Romney did, that he shouldn’t be in office." [Maryland's Republican governor, Larry Hogan, also strongly implied that Trump was guilty and should be evicted from the White House. Speaking yesterday at the State Solutions conference, he said "I don’t think Congress did their job. But the American people will, and I have more faith in the American people to make that decision in November, and that’s what they're going to get to do."]

Yesterday, back in Maine, one of Trump's arch-enablers, Senator Susan Collins said "I’m obviously not in favor of any kind of retribution against anyone who came forward with evidence." Obviously? Who knows with you? What a phony! There may be other Republican office holders who agree with Governors Hogan and Scott, but they're not speaking out. The vast majority of Republican voters are now part of the Trumpist cult and they are abiding no disobedience to The Leader. And The Leader is now making it clear to the party, that those who fail to toe the line will pay for their infidelity. And Romney is on the very top of his list (replacing Bolton, who is now #2 on the Trumpanzee enemies list).

On Thursday, Trump announced he will be unleashing miners and drillers to devastate what's left of Utah's pristine national monuments (Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante).




But that's nothing compared to what Trump has in mind for Romney personally. "The only one that voted against us was a guy that can't stand the fact that he ran one of the worst campaigns in the history of the presidency," he growled on Thursday. The the SMTT (Social Media Trumpanzee Thugs), led by Trumpanzee, Jr., launched an all-out offensive against Romney online, of the sort McKay Coppins wrote about in his Billion-Dollar Disinformation Campaign for The Atlantic this week. Jr. called him a pussy on Instagram and asserted that "He was too weak to beat the Democrats then so he's joining them now. He's now officially a member of the resistance & should be expelled from the @GOP." He and his fascist gang have been all over Twitter inciting their cult followers to spread the hate.

Josh Dawsey reported at the Washington Post that the Trump campaign that Trump plans to finance a primary challenger against Romney in 2024 and to pressure donors to shut off the financial spigots. Trumpists also say they will make sure none of Romney's legislation will be passed in the Senate. A small handful of Republicans-- basically the #NeverTrumpers-- are pushing back. Republicans For the Rule of Law, are running this ad defending Romney:



Friday, Dawsey was joined by Robert Costa and Greg Miller to lay out the parameters of the Trumpist plans for revenge against others Trump sees as his enemies. The first Trump intends to make an example of is Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a decorated National Security Council official who testified against him during the impeachment hearings. Vindman "is being reassigned to a position at the Defense Department, taking a key figure from the investigation out of the White House... Trump is eager to make a symbol of the Army officer, who had already requested a transfer himself.

Trump made clear on Thursday that he is ready to make his impeachment a key part of his reelection strategy and highlight his anger at Democratic leaders who led the charge to remove him from office, as well as Republicans who did not embrace the defense of his actions even though he was acquitted by the Senate on Wednesday.

At an event in the East Room of the White House, he called Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) a “horrible person” and derided Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) as a flip-flopping Republican with “no sign of principles” whose vote to convict Trump on abuse of power charges was born not out of principle but bitterness over his failed 2012 presidential bid.

And he kicked off the day at the National Prayer Breakfast by questioning the two lawmakers’ claims about the role religion plays in their public lives.

“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong. Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you,’ when they know that that’s not so,” he told a room full of religious leaders.

Trump and his allies are considering doing more than just launching verbal fusillades at his perceived enemies over impeachment as the decision regarding Vindman shows. Some of the president’s aides are discussing whether to remove or reassign several administration officials who testified during the impeachment inquiry, according to aides and advisers who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plans. Meanwhile, Senate committee chairmen are ramping up their investigation into Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine while his father, Joe, was vice president.

“Lieutenant Colonel Col. Vindman and his twin brother-- right?-- we had some people that-- really amazing,” Trump said during an event at the White House, mocking the national security counsel aide who testified during hearings investigating the White House’s actions toward Ukraine.

Trump has complained about Vindman in private, mocking the way he spoke, wore his uniform and conducted himself during the impeachment inquiry, according to people familiar with his remarks. He has discussed with aides removing other national security officials who testified or cooperated with House Democrats, with Trump calling them disloyal and asking whether he should further cull his national security staff after impeachment. He remains incensed that so many people in his administration testified last year, according to allies of the president. No final decisions have been made on what to do with the officials, these people said.

But the White House is not hiding from the fact it would like to see Democrats and Romney feel some pain for their role in his impeachment.

Stephanie Grisham, the president’s press secretary, said making people pay for their conduct was a reason Trump held an event Thursday in the East Room of the White House, which Trump later said was not a speech but a “celebration” of his acquittal by the Senate a day earlier.

Advisers to the president said Trump is already thinking about a scorched-earth nine-month campaign and how Democrats might attack him next-- and how he can land punches of his own.

“He’s keenly aware of the fact that the Democrats only have one play: to destroy him personally every single day… until November,” said Jason Miller, an informal adviser and former campaign aide.

Additionally, Trump sees it as valuable to frame previous investigations as witch hunts because he expects more probes, Miller and other Trump allies said, and the president has told his aides that Democrats will continue to investigate his finances, his Cabinet officials and his interactions with foreign leaders.

Trump was not in a reflective mood about his conduct on Thursday.

...Trump has denied any wrongdoing and-- despite some Republican senators calling his action wrong even if not impeachable-- he has shown no remorse.

That was evident from the time he left the White House on Thursday morning on his way to the prayer breakfast being held at a nearby hotel.

He rewrote parts of his speech for the event, scribbling en route, to highlight his impeachment and attack his foes at a traditionally staid, nonpartisan affair, according to officials. When Arthur Brooks, a conservative columnist, encouraged guests at the breakfast to “love your enemies” and set aside contempt, Trump pointedly said that he did not concur.

“I don’t know if I agree with you. I don’t know if Arthur is going to like what I’m going to say,” he said, before attacking both Pelosi and Romney from the dais at the Washington Hilton.

His event in the East Room later in the day was part celebration, part tirade as he thanked his supporters and laid into his critics.

“They are vicious and mean, vicious. These people are vicious,” he said of Democrats before focusing specifically on Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-CA), who led the impeachment inquiry.

He brought up Hunter Biden, criticizing his role in Ukraine and mocking him for being discharged from the Navy Reserve after allegedly testing positive for cocaine.

Trump plans to repeatedly bring up the younger Biden on the campaign trail, according to White House officials, hoping to use it against Joe Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, and to argue that Democrats are corrupt. Neither Biden has been charged with any wrongdoing by Ukrainian officials.

Trump has continued to suggest to aides that his personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, could have valuable information and that Hunter Biden resonates with the general public.

He may get help on this topic from Senate Republicans.

In a letter sent Wednesday to the head of the Secret Service, two Senate committee chairmen wrote that they are “reviewing potential conflicts of interest posed by the business activities of Hunter Biden and his associates during the Obama administration, particularly with respect to his business activities in Ukraine and China.”

Sens. Charles E. Grassley (IA) and Ron Johnson (WI) said they are seeking information on any instances when Hunter Biden traveled with a protective security detail during the time his father was vice president, as well as when he flew on government planes.

Trump has been convinced by polling and rallies in recent months that relentlessly attacking Pelosi is key to his reelection success, and he has shown flashes of anger when discussing her, according to aides.

Republican lawmakers and Trump have also discussed ways to exact revenge on Schiff for his leading role in the president’s impeachment, according to people familiar with the conversations.

Some White House, campaign and congressional officials are pushing Trump to move on from talking about impeachment or attacking Romney, the lone Republican to vote for his conviction. RNC and campaign officials said they were happy Thursday that Trump did not seem to have a specific plan to take on Romney, even as the White House lashed into him in a long page of talking points.

“There’s a lot of anger there. But I think this, too, shall pass,” said Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT), a Trump ally.

One top ally suggested the president should go to Florida, golf for a few days and bask in the sun with his friends-- or turn his focus to attacking Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) or attempting to sow division among the Democratic 2020 nominees.

...But Trump was unable to hide his anger in public on Thursday and it’s unclear when or if he will stop focusing on his impeachment and investigations into his administration.

“We’ve been going through this now for over three years. It was evil. It was corrupt. It was dirty cops. It was leakers and liars,” he said in the East Room. “And this should never, ever happen to another president, ever.”

How Willing Are Republicans To Blow Up The Country To Entrench Trumpism?

Rick Wiles wants some of Fatt Gaetz's pizza

Wednesday we watched, many of us aghast, as Matt Gaetz and a pack of fascist-oriented extremists barged into an impeachment deposition and shut it down, Gaetz stuffing pepperoni pizza's down his fat face... before waddling upstairs to vote against the SHIELD Act which seeks to protect American elections from foreign interference. Thursday, sickening South Carolina closet queen, Lindsey Graham, pulled his head out of Trump's ass long enough to introduce a Senate resolution semi-condemning the House impeachment inquiry (as explicitly demanded by Trumpanzee, Jr.)

This kind of Republican Party activity inside Congress may appear laughable to normal people but it absolutely encourages crackpots like Trumpist psychopath Rick Wiles to spread venomous calls for violence. Wiles has taken the GOP civil war talk seriously, as Right Wing Watch's Kyle Mantyla reported Wednesday. Wiles is threatening murder-- against members of Congress who vote to remove Trump. Wiles in the senior pastor at a Satanic anti-Jesus church in Vero Beach, Florida and the host of a racist internet radio show. Fox News brings him out of the fringe now and then as a guest, but he's probably best known for his anti-Semitic TruNews website, a purveyor of hatred and violence. Maybe when the Secret Service finishes pestering Eminem, they'll have a talk with Wiles about something truly threatening to the country.

End Times broadcaster, rabid anti-Semite, and ardent conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles warned on his “TruNews” program last night that if President Donald Trump is removed from office, Trump supporters who “know how to fight” will hunt down Democratic legislators and kill them.

“If they take him out, there is going to be violence in America,” Wiles said. “There are people in this country-- veterans, cowboys, mountain men, guys that know how to fight-- and they’re going to make a decision that the people that did this to Donald Trump are not going to get away with it and they’re going to hunt them down.”

“I’m serious,” he continued. “If these people in Washington think that they are going to get away with it, it’s not going to happen. The Trump supporters are going to hunt them down. It’s going to happen and this country is going to be plunged into darkness and they brought it upon themselves because they won’t back off.”

Wiles said that Democrats have “waged war” against Trump voters for three years in an effort to undo the 2016 election and Trump supporters “are fed up with it and they know that if they get away with this, there is no country left.”

“They are going to go on a rampage and you’re not going to be able to put it back in the bottle,” Wiles said.

“Once the blood starts flowing, it’s nearly impossible to stop,” added co-host Edward Szall.

Oh, Boy Another Brooks Brothers Riot!

A gang of Republican thugs that varied in number between between 6 and 20 and led by clownish Floridian Matt Gaetz, staged a noisy disruptive sit-in in the secure hearing room (SCIF-- Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility), refusing to allow a scheduled deposition in the impeachment investigation-- which have been devastating for their Regime-- to continue. They breached House rules by bringing their phones into the secure area and Gaetz, who is an obese alcoholic with a long police record to start with, ordered pizzas and coke and is daring Democrats to have him arrested and carted out of the room. It was like a meeting of the Freedom Caucus featuring all the Trumpist nuts, like Mark Meadows (NC), Steve Scalise (LA), Andy Biggs (AZ), Mark Walker (NC) Louie Gohmert (TX), Steve King (IA) and Gym Jordan (OH). As Ted Lieu pointed out, "When you don't have the law or the facts you attack and disrupt the process. And you may wonder why is it happening now? Because Bill Taylor gave a devastating opening statement yesterday. They're freaked out. They're trying to stop this investigation." Jim Himes (D-CT), one of the top members of the Intelligence Committee, told me "It was kind or absurd. Especially since they disrupted the many Republicans who were in the deposition along with Republican counsel. It’s all just a ploy to avoid focus on the President’s abuses of power." Matt Cartwright (D-PA) didn't want to discuss it at all. He told me that "it's a sophomoric distraction to take attention away from the devastating Taylor testimony" and warned me that if I "write a post about it, it’s a victory for Gaetz." (Come on, that photo of Gaetz, day dreaming about AOC, up top is a victory?)

Former Democratic congressman Alan Grayson from Orlando noted that "A lot of Republicans support Donald Trump even though Trump is a putz. Gaetz supports Trump because he’s a putz. (And I leave it up to you to decide to whom “he” refers in that sentence.)" Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told me that "The Gucci rioters were just trying to distract America from Ambassador Bill Taylor’s devastating testimony yesterday. With no substantive answer to the overwhelming evidence of the Ukraine shakedown, the GOP is now left with pathetic stunts that violate the rules of the House and make a mockery of the honorable pantheon of real civil disobedience heroes. This was the only sit-in protest in American history designed to cover up presidential high crimes and misdemeanors and aid foreign despots. When I saw a bunch of GOP members chortling over pepperoni pizza about their heroic obstruction of the work of Congress, I realized Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King would be turning over in their graves. What a fraud!" The details of Bill Taylor's testimony was deadly for the Trumpists since it entirely blew apart their absurd "no quid pro quo" argument. They don't want two days in a row of that kind of talk, so they refused to allow deputy assistant secretary of defense Laura Cooper to testify.

Over half of the Republican freaks who made a big show of barging in and acting like barnyard animals are actually members of the Oversight or Foreign Affairs committees, which means if they haven't been at the depositions it's because they were busy doing something else-- like calling campaign contributors-- or too lazy. They're certainly all entitled to be at all the depositions. The hissy fit was just staged to make Trump feel like he has some support in the House.

Saleha Mohsin, Jennifer Jacobs and Josh Wingrove reported on the GOP fit for Bloomberg by pointing out that Trump had advance knowledge and supported the stunt. They wrote that "During a nearly two-hour meeting, which focused mostly on the impeachment inquiry, lawmakers shared their plans to storm into the secure room… Trump supported the action, saying he wanted the transcripts released because they will exonerate him." As you know, the transcripts are far more likely to send Trump to prison than to exonerate him.

House Republicans send out their best to protest impeachment-- Louie and Matt

I got this on background from an Intelligence Committee official:

After Tuesday’s devastating testimony by Ambassador Taylor, over two dozen House Republican Members sought to prevent another witness from cooperating by forcing their way into the Intelligence Committee spaces in violation of house deposition rules. The stunt, in service of the President’s demand that they 'fight harder' to obstruct a legitimate impeachment inquiry, has meant that the witness has had to wait for hours for them to leave. They engage in this circus-like behavior because they can’t defend the President’s egregious misconduct. The House Parliamentarian has ruled that these members are in violation of House deposition rules.

And in a major security breach, these Republican Members brought their electronics into the secure facility (SCIF). Although several members later removed their devices, after being advised by the Sergeant at Arms and security personnel that there were members still in possession of electronic devices, some Republican members refused to completely remove them.

It is worth remembering this Gowdy quote during Benghazi: "[Issa] is not a [Benghazi] committee member and non-committee members are not allowed in the room during the deposition. Those are the rules and we have to follow them, no exceptions made."

Meanwhile, the chairs of the three committees heading the Ukraine aspect of the impeachment-- Adam Schiff (Intelligence Committee), Eliot Engel (Foreign Affairs Committee) and Carolyn Maloney (acting chair of Oversight Committee) sent this letter to the Trumpist Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan.

As part of the House of Representatives’ ongoing impeachment inquiry, our Committees have now obtained detailed information identifying specific documents in the possession, custody, or control of the Department of State that are directly and highly relevant to the inquiry.

These documents include information central to the inquiry’s core area of investigation: the President’s efforts to press Ukraine to initiate investigations that would benefit his personal and political interests, and not the national interest.  These records include, but are not limited to:

• Written readouts and write-ups of meetings and conversations that document activity and conduct under investigation by the Committees;
• Email correspondence that pertains directly to matters under investigation that occurred both before and after President Trump’s July 25, 2019, call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky;
• Diplomatic cables that relate, among other issues, to the President’s decision to withhold vital military aid to Ukraine and document interactions with Ukrainian officials about matters under investigation;
• Text messages and electronic communications, including from personal devices, from witnesses in the inquiry; and
• Memoranda to file drafted by Department officials, including memoranda that document efforts to press Ukraine to initiate politically-motivated investigations to benefit President Trump and that raise concerns about false representations by the Department to the Committees and that document efforts to intimidate or silence employees.

“The Committees consider the refusal to comply with a duly authorized congressional subpoena as obstruction of the lawful functions of Congress and of the impeachment inquiry. Because the Committees have gathered evidence about the direct relevance of these documents, including highly significant information contained in these materials that pertain to allegations that the President abused the power of his office for personal political benefit, the Committees may draw the inference that their nonproduction indicates that these documents support the allegations against the President and others.

Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) reminded us today that "Trump abused his power and threatened our national security when he attempted to extort Ukraine into investigating a political rival. Instead of upholding their oath to defend the Constitution, House Republicans have decided to defend the President. They complain about the process, but remain silent on the President’s crimes. This is a shameful abdication of responsibility, and a historical embarrassment to our country."

Early this morning, the White House officially responded to yesterday's childish and ineffectual Republican Party tantrum and pizza party on Capitol Hill:

Will The Real Matt Gaetz Please Stand Up, Please Stand Up

Which Republican said this last week in a debate about prohibiting Trump to invade Iran without prior approval from Congress? "If my war-hungry colleagues, some of whom have already suggested we invade Venezuela and North Korea and probably a few other countries before lunchtime tomorrow; if they’re so certain of their case against Iran, let them bring their authorization to use military force against Iran to this very floor. Let them make the case to Congress and the American people."

Justin Amash would be a good guess, but he had already quit to GOP and was already an independent. Amash voted for the amendment, as did 27 Republicans and the amendment carried, 251 to 170. (7 Trump-Democrats--Henry Cuellar, Josh Gottheimer, Stephen Lynch, Stephanie Murphy, Tom O'Halleran, Kathleen Rice and Jefferson Van Drew-- crossed the aisle in the other direction and voted to make sure Trump could start bombing whenever he wanted to. These 7 Democrats should be kicked out of the party and defeated at the ballot box, although it's worth noting that Cheri Bustos and Nancy Pelosi are working furiously to undercut the 3 women who are primarying Cuellar, Lynch and O'Halleran.)

The Republican co-sponsor of the amendment-- and the one chastising "my war-hungry colleagues"-- was none other than Matt Gaetz, the Florida Panhandle congressman who Mother Jones referred to as Trump's favorite congressman and his most sycophantic fanboy yesterday. And I admit it, we've called him worse. The Mother Jones piece wasn't about Gaetz infuriating Trump; it was about how similar their paths to government were. Stephanie Mencimer reported that Trump has lavished praise on Gaetz:

• "President Trump says Rep. Gaetz is 'handsome, going places... fantastic' in Fort Meyers, Florida rally."
• "President Trump holds rally in Pensacola, FL with Matt Gaetz."
• President Trump calls Rep. Gaetz 'an absolute warrior' in live Fox News interview."
• "President Trump endorses Gaetz in the Republican primary, calling him 'one of the finest and most talented people in Congress'."

Trump isn't very popular in south Florida, but up in the Panhandle... he's huge. In 2016 he won Gaetz's district 67.5% to 28.2%, Trump's best performance anywhere in Florida. Last year Gaetz was reelected with virtually the same margin-- 216,189 (67.1%) to 106,199 (32.9%) for Democrat Jennifer Zimmerman.

Mencimer wrote that the 37 year old Gaetz "has earned a reputation for becoming one of the party’s highest-profile members by cheerleading for the president and emulating his public bullying and trolling. Gaetz seems to spend more time on Fox News than in congressional committee rooms, and when he does legislate, it’s sometimes for show. After Trump mocked the House Intelligence Committee chair, one of his chief antagonists, as “little pencil-­neck Adam Schiff,” Gaetz went on Tucker Carlson’s show to announce a resolution to boot the California Democrat off the committee. Gaetz called it the Preventing Extreme Negli­gence with Classified Information Licenses Act, or PENCIL Act."

"Matt Gaetz is living proof that Veep was less parody and more prophecy," says Steve Schmidt, a veteran Republican political strategist and Trump critic. "To some degree, he's a character in the grandest reality show of all. He exists at the hinge of reality and alternative reality."

Gaetz is often described as Trump's protégé, someone who’s become a Fox News staple not just by sucking up to the president but by trying to out-Trump Trump with insults hurled at Democrats and anyone else with the temerity to challenge the president. But Gaetz hasn't simply been copying the president; he was cultivating a Trumplike persona long before anyone considered the possibility of a President Trump. And the two men share more than just a love of playground taunts. Gaetz's political ascent was also fueled by a rich father who paved his way, and a series uf unorthodox financial maneuvers.

The meanest member of Congress hails from a town called Niceville, a sleepy enclave of about 15,000 nestled on Choctawhatchee Bay, just off the Gulf of Mexico. When Gaetz was growing up, it was 90 percent white, solidly middle class and best known for hosting the Boggy Bayou Mullet Festival-- in honor of the plentiful local fish, not the hairdo. The Gaetzes owned a second home in the nearby town of Seaside, where The Truman Show was filmed. Gaetz, who devoted his career to getting on television, spent much of his childhood in a house made famous by a character trying to get off TV.

The Gaetzes were conservative and religious, as was the surrounding community. (Two abortion doctors were murdered in the area during Gaetz's childhood.) Matt's mom suffered life-threatening complications while pregnant with his younger sister but opted not to have an abortion and was partially paralyzed as a result. Matt Gaetz has said her decision influenced his anti-abortion positions.

But if anyone is responsible for Gaetz's rise to political fame, it's his dad, whose deep pockets and even deeper connections in Florida politics are one reason Matt is known in his district as Baby Gaetz. "Matt would be an assistant manager at Walmart if it weren't for his father," says Steven Specht, a Democrat who ran against Gaetz for Congress in 2016.

Mencimer explained how he is a 3rd generation politician and how he honed his trolling skills early to help his father's career. His father was apparently popular and served briefly as state Senate president. Although Gaetz campaigned as an anti-healthcare fanatic, it was his father's hospice company (infamous for defrauding Medicare)-- and it's sale for $400 million-- that paid the bills.

Matt graduated from William and Mary Law School in 2007 and embarked on a small-town law career and in a race to collect drunk driving citations, during which time he earned a reputation as an entitled ne'er-do-well. Republicans are attracted to that kind of entitlement and when state House Speaker Ray Sansom was forced out of office for corruption, Matt was elected to his seat. All his dad's political cronies and donors contributed to Matt's campaign and he raised $480,000, five times more than any of his rivals. Although he only made $29,000 in 2010 as a lawyer, he managed to self-fund $100,000 in last minute (2 weeks) campaign expenses, more than any of his rivals spent in total.

He was an aggressive far right extremist in the legislature-- and made a name for himself as a nasty troll, He also learned how to use the military to advance his political career without actually having to enlist.

In 2016, when Jeff Miller, the local congressman decided to retire, Gaetz, self-funding with mysterious money again, ran and won. And it didn't hurt to have a superPAC funded by his father and his father's connections, throw half a million dollars into the race. He won and he continued drooling away, nearly winding upon real trouble for threatening Michael Cohen on Twitter. As Mencimer pointed out, "virtually everything Gaetz has done in Congress has been designed for maximum publicity. The first bill he ever introduced was a one-sentence measure disbanding the Environmental Protection Agency."

I reached out to Gaetz, who has never responded to any e-mails. I asked him one question (albeit with a few parts: "Mother Jones seems to have set out to paint a very negative picture of you as a Trump lackey-- just one week after you and Ro Khanna passed an historic war powers amendment that the White House probably isn't thrilled with. It appears that you brought over two dozen Republicans along with you-- not counting Justin Amash. Mother Jones asserts that you've been an unserious troll and points to your first bill-- to abolish the EPA in one sentence-- as a way of summing you up legislatively. And yet this amendment you and Ro passed is, arguably, the most important bipartisan legislation passed this year. Was there a change in attitude on your part? What made someone sometimes called 'the most right-wing member of Congress' work on an amendment with someone who is sometimes called 'the most left-wing member of Congress?' Has the White House communicated with you about the amendment? And... no luck. He didn't respond.

Friday Was An Especially Bad Day For Trump And His Regime

In his new book, American Carnage, Tim Alberta quotes Justin Amash, speaking of his Republican colleagues: "These guys have all convinced themselves that to be successful and keep their jobs, they need to stand by Trump. But Trump won’t stand with them as soon as he doesn’t need them. He’s not loyal. They’re very loyal to Trump, but the second he thinks it’s to his advantage to throw someone under the bus, he’ll be happy to do it."

Trump tossed Alex Acosta overboard yesterday, presumably after getting Acosta-- who he praised effusively, to agree to never reveal how many underage girls Trump shtuped at Epstein's Caribbean whore house for minors (and one elderly Russian masseuse). Trump said it was entirely Acosta's decision, although it certainly didn't seem like that was a decision Acosta was about to make during his painful hour-long press conference Wednesday. Standing next to Acosta, Señor Trumpanzee called him a "great labor secretary-- not a good one." He told reporters that Acosta "did a very good job...we're gonna miss him. He also mentioned "He's a tremendous talent. He's a Hispanic man. He went to Harvard. Which I so admire. Because maybe it was a little tougher for him. And maybe not."

Earlier in the week, Fox.com reported that Trump has now changed his tune on Epstein completely:

Trump said Tuesday he was “not a fan” of financier Jeffrey Epstein, despite making comments in the past praising the wealthy hedge fund manager.

During a meeting in the Oval Office with the emir of Qatar, the president was asked about his relationship with Epstein, 66, who pleaded not guilty Monday to sex trafficking in New York federal court.

“I know him, just like everybody in Palm Beach knew him,” Trump said. “People in Palm Beach knew him. He was a fixture in Palm Beach.”

“I had a falling out with him a long time ago,” Trump continued. “I don’t think I’ve spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan. I was not a fan of his. That I can tell you. I was not a fan.”

Back in 2002, when New York Magazine was profiling Epstein, Trump touted their relationship.

“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with,” Trump reportedly said. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

...“I met Secretary Acosta when I made the deal to bring him onto the administration. I can tell you that for two and a half years, he has been just an excellent secretary of labor. He’s done a fantastic job,” Trump said. “What happened 12 or 15 years ago with respect to when he was a U.S. attorney I think in Miami-- if you go back and look at everybody else’s decisions, whether it’s a U.S. attorney, or an assistant U.S. attorney, or a judge, you go back, 12, 15 years and look at past decisions-- I think you’d probably find that they would wish they did it a different way.”

Trump added that he “heard there were a lot of people involved” in the Epstein decision, “not just him.”

“I can only say this from what I know, and what I do know is he has been a really great secretary of labor-- the rest of it, we’ll have to look at it. We’ll have to look at it very carefully,” he said. “I feel very badly actually for Secretary Acosta because I have known him as being someone who has done such a good job. I feel very badly about that situation.”

Acosta is not the only administration official facing questions over the Epstein case.

Attorney General Bill Barr on Monday had said he would recuse himself from the case due to his past legal work at a firm that represented Epstein in 2008. But a Justice Department official told Fox News on Tuesday that after consulting with career ethics officials, Barr will not recuse himself from the current case being led by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York. The attorney general, though, will remain recused from any "retrospective review" of the 2008 case.

Barr won't be the next person Trump throws under the bus though. That honor belongs to for Indiana Senator Dan Coats. Yesterday, Jonathan Swan reported that Trump is telling confidents he's eager to remove Coats as director of national intelligence. Trump hasn't been paying any attention to anything Coats says since he angered Trump when he criticized his relationship with Putin during an on-stage interview with NBC's Andrea Mitchell last year and when he testified before the Senate that North Korea isn't giving up their nuclear weapons (which Trump wants his base to think is going to happen).

One potential replacement Trump has mentioned to multiple sources is [dangerous unhinged psychotic] Fred Fleitz, who formerly served as chief of staff to national security adviser John Bolton. Fleitz was previously a CIA analyst and a staff member of the House Intelligence Committee. He is currently the president of the Center for Security Policy. Trump has told people that he likes Fleitz and has "heard great things." Fleitz has publicly criticized Coats and even called for Trump to fire Coats on Lou Dobbs' Fox Business program after Coats' Senate testimony. Fleitz accused Coats of undermining and "second-guessing" the president.

With all this going on, it's worth noting that yesterday the House voted, 251-170 to pass Ro Khanna's amendment to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act reminding Trump, unambiguously, that he can't bomb Iran without congressional approval. 27 Republicans voted with all but 7 Trump-Democrats. One Trump-crony who voted with the Democrats on this was Matt Gaetz (R-FL) who attacked his own party: "If my war-hungry colleagues, some of whom have already suggested we invade Venezuela and North Korea and probably a few other countries before lunchtime tomorrow; if they’re so certain of their case against Iran, let them bring their authorization to use military force against Iran to this very floor. Let them make the case to Congress and the American people." On passage, Khanna noted that "This is a historic moment for Congress. Although President Trump campaigned on ending costly wars oversees, his chosen advisors, one which includes the architect of the Iraq war, and actions to increase tensions with Iran prove he is far from living up to that promise. With more than 25 Republicans voting in favor of passage, this amendment is proof that opposition to war with Iran transcends partisan politics. Some of the President’s closest allies voted for this amendment. Americans came together around the idea that we must avoid a war with Iran." The Democrats who crossed the aisle to vote with Trump were:

• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Stephen Lynch (New Dem-MA)
• Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)
• Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ)
• Kathleen Rice (New Dem-NY)
• Jefferson Van Drew (Blue Dog-NJ)

Brianna Wu is the progressive Democrat running for the Boston area seat Lynch occupies. I asked her how she felt about his Trump vote yesterday. "What can I say? If there’s a bad call to be made," she said, "Lynch is your guy. This is the man that voted for the disastrous Iraq War and never apologized for his decision that got my friends killed. Unlike Lynch, I did learn a thing or two from the horrors of Iraq and the 36,376 American troops who were killed or wounded. We’ve been here before, Democrats in Congress give the executive the power to go to war without oversight. It didn’t end well in Iraq, and it wouldn't end well in Iran. Strength is not cowboying your way into every problem. Strength is working with others. It’s acting deliberately, and with all the information available. We know the contempt Trump has for both our intelligence agencies and the State Department-- so it’s hard to imagine a reason for Democrats to give this president the unchecked power to go to war."

Eva Putzova is in a primary battle with a former Republican state legislator pretending to be a Democratic, Blue Dog Tom O'Halleran, who, needless to say, reverted to form and voted with his GOP pals on this one. Eva explained this morning that "Only Congress can authorize the U.S. to go to war. For my opponent to relinquish that authority to the most volatile President in the country’s history is irresponsible, morally wrong, and dangerous. I grew up near mass graves and will always advocate for diplomacy and peaceful resolution of conflicts. The only winners in a war are the arms dealers."