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There is quite literally no bottom the pit the Republiqans now dwell in; and there is no lie too big to tell.

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I'm cynical enough to believe that McCarthy and McConnell will manage to tough this out. Just as everyone knew Trump was a liar and it didn't seem to matter, so everyone knows that the two McC's are comfortable lying and it probably won't matter in their cases either.

I'd love to be proven wrong.

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Apr 22, 2022·edited Apr 22, 2022

I respect George Conway. I wouldn’t allow him to pick out a life partner for me, but I know GC has not only survived living with his wife, but is heavily involved with the Lincoln Project. He’s got a heart for our Democracy.

I embrace his words and actually want to up the bar a bit.

The right thing is for McCarthy to tender his resignation. It won’t happen, but that’s what SHOULD happen.

I fervently hope this ice break today portends a glut of truth telling in the coming weeks.

I’m so sick of the GOP shitshow. Enough already.

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I imagine that there was a short period (several hours) when many congressmen and women felt some fear for their health and their lives as they were rapidly shuffled out of the house chambers, down back staircases and elevators into rooms many of them had never seen before, with reinforced doors and no windows, perhaps no bathrooms, or onto loading platforms in subterranean parking garages to be whisked away in vans, limos or whatever conveyance that security forces could muster. Remarkably, by mid-evening, the building was secured and they all returned and reconvened the business of the House. The stark reality of what had occurred, including reports of deaths and hundreds of injuries suffered by capitol police, dropped the guard of some normally very "on-message" officials who temporarily uttered truth from their guts, before ashamedly hitching up costumes and rhetoric and looking around to see if any cameras or microphones might have captured those vulnerable moments before the adrenaline levels returned to normal. Oh, how they must regret their hasty words now, after the tapes have been revealed. This story is over a year old, but publication of a book by professional journalists is a good way to refresh the minds of the masses. The soft underbelly of the beast has been exposed once again; if you tried to eviscerate it though, you'd find...nothing; just a big bag of gas inside. How it lives without a beating heart is a mystery to me.

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Thank you HCR. Hopefully the unravelling is beginning. It can't be too soon. Tapes talk, so to speak---and they don't lie, either. The scum is floating to the surface---too bad we can't just skim it off....... On the other hand, true believers manage to keep believing---but how long will they (and Trump) tolerate liars who have now been unmasked, so to speak. The wheels of Justice should start grinding. And the current parade of Jan 6 committee witnesses seems to indicate they 'have" something on a few people...... Peace and Courage in these strange times.

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And then there’s DeSantis retaliation against Disney for expressing an opinion. I hope Disney fights back!

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Now McCarthy has been caught in a lie. While there is the audio tape, there will still be many people who will not believe what they hear. I think that Barack Obama phrased it very well; it’s not necessary that people believe the lie. It’s just necessary that they become so confused by competing narratives that they don’t know what and whom to believe.

https://youtu.be/LH6kq3HhjgQ

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In for a penny, in for a pound.

Hung as a sheep as a lamb.

Republicans are in too deep to change. They hedged their bets on Trump in 2016 and won the Federal judiciary, notably the Supreme Court. From every corner, they are undoing decades of civil rights progress and erecting barriers to preserving rights, let alone restoring or progressing them. Republicans are out of their minds with jubilation. They've tasted blood and are ravening for more.

The Left refused to accept that 2016 was their stitch in time moment. And refused to unite to elect Hillary, thereby putting Trump in office. Many asserted that if Trump made things bad enough then 'come the revolution'. And come it did, on Jan 6. That is the people's revolution you will get in America. Armed to the Gills Automatons for Authoritarianism.

In 2020, responsible voters united to elect Biden and Democratic majorities in Congress. For our sins we also got Manchin and Sinema. It is going to be much more difficult in 2022.

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I'm not one to delight in the troubles of those whom I dislike, even detest, unless the troubles amount to justice. But Kevin McCarthy is an exception, especially because it involves gross deceit by a public official. In his case, it's a pattern of deceit that has undermined democracy for which there have been zero consequences. At least so far.

McCarthy is the paragon of a two-faced hypocritical liar. We knew it, but now WE REALLY KNOW IT. But does anyone think McCarthy feels any shame? Not a chance. But, perversely I guess, seeing him caught dead to right makes me feel good.

Heather today retweeted the following thread by Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson, who skewers McCarthy like only he can. https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1517341920019812358?s=20&t=TV8nIIeq6XGlPfUBLSspug

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Amazing what truths are trapped in tape. I wonder how this will finally ‘play’ out. Gnite. My prayers are focused on all citizens and friends of Ukraine.

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Thank you, Heather! It was the Nixon tapes that finally got him to resign. I hope the Lincoln Project runs this tape over and over and over every day for the next two and a half years and becomes the demise of the DT Rhino Party. It was so incredible to hear Moscow Mitch and Kowtow Kevin saying DT was finally done after Jan. 6 just to have to grovel a few days later when they had to eat their words. But, the DT base led by Fox News will come up with a sound bite the base can use to dismiss M&M's little transgression. Narcissists like DT never carry any blame because they project the shame on others and have no shame left. For the rest of us, it is time to Join the Union. jointheunion.us We, the People, All of US this time!

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Some remember. Senator Barry Goldwater, in full Barry Morris Goldwater, (born January 1, 1909, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.—died May 29, 1998, Paradise Valley, Arizona), U.S. senator from Arizona (1953–64, 1969–87) and Republican presidential candidate in 1964 - dropped in on President Richard M. Nixon, and delivered the news. Resign or experience impeachment. Following the departure of Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, replaced by Speaker Gerald Ford, it was time to go. Impeachment was a lock. By resigning, Nixon might be pardoned, not prosecuted, then came Gov. Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller to fill the VP slot after Ford rose to replace Nixon - and pardon him. Divorced, Rocky promised Senator Prescott Bush he would not run, the eastern establishment closed ranks, Ford rose to lose when he ran, and we lived on to experience a few decades of wars without declaration, and here we are. Government is barely there, respectability vacated decades ago, and the Republic is shaken. Putin financed Trump, Trump corruption exceeds that of Nixon and Agnew by a proverbial mile, and two failed attempts at impeachment later we are facing humiliation worldwide. We’ve met the enemy in the mirror. and courage has failed us. No courage, no republic. We’re in trouble, all kinds of trouble, evil trouble, not the good kind so much. SCOTUS was stuffed with mediocrity. Our citizens lack memory. This could get nasty.

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Yep, Rachel Maddow covered all this on her program and has connected all of the dots over the years. Impeachments, audio tapes, videos, witness accounts, reams of testimony have all been collected and here we are, still commenting on the same rat parade over and over again.

There is absolutely no rational legal reason why members of the trump criminal cabal, complicit republican members of congress who enabled the corruption and attempted coup, and other insurrectionists have not been indicted. Frankly, this DOJ is not doing their job and it is an insult to the Biden administration and to every American who used to belief we had "rule of law" in this country.

Political crime and batshit dangerous legislation ala Texas and Florida governors, etc. pays huge dividends to those who participate and drink the lemonade. I don't know why it is that those who can think, learn, and act for good end up on the losing end.

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I was glued to all this news most of the day. It’s hard to believe they’ll all escape. I’m quite pleased with the DOJ at this point and I suspect FL will still get sued over its new map … so, fingers crossed is the best I can do right now.

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Apr 22, 2022·edited Apr 22, 2022

‘In the days after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol building, the two top Republicans in Congress, Representative Kevin McCarthy and Senator Mitch McConnell, told associates they believed President Trump was responsible for inciting the deadly riot and vowed to drive him from politics.’

That’s a front page story in today’s New York Times by Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin. The two have a a book coming out called, “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America’s Future,” which draws on hundreds of interviews with lawmakers and officials, and recordings of private conversations. (New York Times) For link, see Notes in the HCR’s Letter.

Will we see in Burns & Martin a new version of Woodward & Bernstein as their exposure of Donald Trump and leaders of the Republican Party spreads far and wide.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

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Trump worshipers weren't fazed by the Access Hollywood video. I would expect even less concern from the faithful over proof that a couple of establishment Republicans were briefly apostate.

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