The Great Republican Abdication

[peggysue2]

Greg Sargent has a piece up today in the Washington Post. The above headline is as it appears above the article.

In my mind, those four words encapsulate what we’ve been witnessing over the last year but made particularly striking in the last few weeks. Gone are the criticisms of Bob Corker, he of adult-daycare fame. Forgotten are Jeff Flake’s comments on the floor of the Senate where he insisted he ‘would not be complicit or silent.’

And yet, complicity and silence is the Republican response to the Trumpster’s antics: his performance art, masquerading as serious immigration negotiation; his twisting in the wind regarding FISA’s renewal vote or his contentious attacks against our traditional institutions—the FBI, DOJ, any and all intelligence agencies. Not to mention his calls for private citizens to be thrown in jail.

Banana Republic, anyone?

Yesterday, I posted an OP on the release of The Foreign Relations Committee’s Report, specifically citing Putin’s asymmetric assault on democracies around the world and recommendations to defend ourselves and our allies from on-going and future threats.

Republicans remained silent, refusing to sign onto the report. Because . . . Trump. Because . . . Russia. And as Sargent contends, they’re hoping the report itself will be seen as a partisan document, evidence lending credence to the Trumpster’s whine: WITCH HUNT, WITCH HUNT.

Our national security as a country, as a people is being risked for the sake of political gamesmanship. This is a glaring, chilling example of Republican complicity, enabling the disgraceful and treacherous behavior/actions of Donald Trump. Even in light of Michael Woffe’s scathing expose’, Republicans have remained largely silent about the book’s details. Rather, they’ve spent the debate time trashing Wolff as a betrayer, a con-man. Irony is having a rebirth!

There’s more, of course.

Diane Feinstein’s release of the Fusion GPS testimony proves the GOP’s dueling narrative regarding Simpson and Steele was always false, that Republicans knew it, that Grassley and Graham certainly knew they were grandstanding and lying when they referred a criminal investigation request to the DOJ on Steele.

And yet, they did it anyway.

Which begs the question: Who are they protecting? The Donald, for whom few have respect? Vladimir Putin, who has made no secret of his antipathy toward the United States and our Allies?

Or themselves, the silent partners in How to Sell Your Soul and Pretend It Doesn’t Matter.

Sargent suggests the Foreign Relations Committee’s Report and Diane Feinstein going rogue is a new phase in the Democratic Party’s resistance and push-back to all things Trump/Russia.

For the sake of us all, I hope he’s right.

WAPO link here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/01/10/the-great-republican-abdication/?utm_term=.8d0671a436b1

[vlyons]

1. Here's the deal about Republicans

I'm sure most of DU already knows this. With Republicans, it's all about the money. How to get it, how to keep it, how to spend it to get more of it. They will shamelessly lie, cheat, steal and look you in the face and say that they are Christians and uber-patriotic. But their only loyalty is to money. It is their god. They do not care about anyone else, but themselves and money. Their passion for money is so greedy that many will go to a type of greedy person's hell.

[peggysue2]

3. In that case . . .

The Trumpster was/is a good match because I think the man's primary motivator is money, ego coming in as a close second. I recall that campaign rant where he admitted his whole life had been devoted to greed. "I've always been greedy, greedy, greedy," he said. "Now I want to be greedy for America."

He failed to mention that his greed for America was merely a way to make money off Her back.

It probably sounds soppy in nature but it's really painful (for me, that is)l to watch this play out, to see grown men and women throw away everything--their self-respect, their integrity, honesty, commitment to principle, etc. But, I suspect, to go this far, you'd have to be loosey-goosey in those things anyway.

And yes, they do appear to be willing to risk hell. Or prison. Whichever comes first!

[AmericanActivist]

2. Yes, for the sake of us all, I hope hes right. I keep

saying there is no reason for Democrats to play by the rules when Republicans are obliterating them. This is especially true with the US being attacked and National Security under threat.

[peggysue2]

4. Gotta agree with you at this point

At least in terms of fighting back. We have to adhere to the Rule of Law. Otherwise we make a mockery of the law and the Trumpsters win.

But fighting dirty? I think that's a requirement at this point.

[AmericanActivist]

7. I should be clear I am all for the rule of law,

and fact finding, I guess what I am saying is it’s crucial that we know the enemy we deal with and have a strategies that are effective. Kind of like being “wise as the serpent and gentle as the lamb.” Another way I think of it is a sports analogy where one team is playing by the rules of the game while the other is not. Or, in a more grave analogy, I recall in the movie The Patriot Mel Gibson’s American character observes how the American troops are fighting the British soldiers according to the rules of military engagement and they were getting slaughtered. His character makes a comment that the Americans will never win this way so they develop an alternate strategy for fighting the British.

I am against violence. I am for the rule of law. I am concerned - as many of us are - that time is not on our side thus it is imperative we deal directly and effectively with foreign and domestic enemies.

Hope that makes sense.

[peggysue2]

8. Makes absolute sense, AA

[SharonAnn]

5. I think Lindsay Graham is being blackmailed. Maybe Grassley, but he's just plain weird.

[peggysue2]

6. I can't figure Graham out

He's done a complete 180. And for what? Just to keep an eye on the Trumpster, get a sense of what he's thinking? Or is it blackmail? I've read he willingly took Russian money. Is he being pressured from the outside? I read one theory suggesting he may be working for Mueller's team. Or is he simply maneuvering positions to ensure snagging a good life boat when the ship goes down.

I can't figure it out. It really is a House of Mirrors at this point.