James Comer and Tucker Carlson aren't fooled by Russian lies -- they're complicit [View all]

[marmar]

James Comer and Tucker Carlson aren't fooled by Russian lies — they're complicit
It would be easier if we could believe Republicans were being played by Putin. The truth is much worse

By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 22, 2024 6:00AM (EST)


(Salon) Last week, the "whistleblower" that House Republicans were counting on to justify a long-planned impeachment of Joe Biden was arrested for lying to the FBI. In a twist that should surprise exactly no one, it appears almost certain that Alexander Smirnov's claim to have evidence implicating the president and his son, Hunter, in criminal activity was fabricated. Worse yet, it also seems plausible that the "source" of the lies was Russian intelligence services. House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., had built the effort to impeach Biden around Smirnov's invented testimony, and has now tacitly admitted that this arrest may derail the Biden impeachment, which has been in the works since long before Republicans had even decided what "crime" they would pretend to believe Biden committed.

....(snip)....

There's a puzzling unwillingness among much of the press to consider the most obvious reason why MAGA Republicans keep taking Putin's side, whether it's over aid to Ukraine or Donald Trump's hostility to NATO: They prefer Putin's antidemocratic vision to the tattered-but-still-surviving democracy of the U.S. There's simply no evidence to suggest that Comer feels the slightest shame over using taxpayer money to be a cutout for Russian intelligence, or even that he is surprised by these revelations.

On CNN on Tuesday, House Oversight Committee member Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., suggested there might be more than stupidity motivating Comer and his fellow impeachment fanatics. "Wittingly or unwittingly, House Republicans have been acting as an agent or an asset of Russian intelligence for Vladimir Putin," he explained, with that word "wittingly" right there for the taking. He pointed out that Trump's first impeachment — which he worked on as a House Democratic lawyer — exposed how much Russia had worked to spread disinformation about the Biden family. There's no reason to reach for ignorance as an explanation, Goldman concluded: "Republicans are willing to be used as assets of Russian intelligence."

....(snip)....

For people like Comer and Carlson, a guiding principle is that the truth simply does not matter. The only value information can possess is to serve their political purposes, no matter how blatantly false it is or how evil the people peddling it may be. Nor should we expect them to feel any embarrassment when they're exposed as liars. On the contrary, that only serves the GOP's goal of breeding widespread cynicism in the public. Rather than trying to untangle all the conflicting accusations about malfeasance and Russian involvement, many people — especially low-information swing voters — will just shrug and say, "All politicians are liars." ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/02/22/james-comer-and-tucker-carlson-arent-fooled-by-russian-lies--they-are-complicit/