Republican Jackass of the Week

For so many reasons, it's Jim Jordan (more commonly known as Gym Jordan because of all the sexual abuse violations he ignored when he was an Ohio State wrestling coach).

But he wins our Jackass Award this week because as chairman of his inappropriately named* Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, his star witnesses who claimed to be "whistleblowers" within the FBI, turned out to have taken money from a Trump operative.

That's right, they weren't whistleblowers at all. Just paid stooges to say what Trump and Jordan wanted to hear.

Both suspended FBI special agents Garret O’Boyle and Steve Friend admitted they’d taken money from Kash Patel, a former advisor to Donald Trump. Worse, their security credentials were revoked for participating in the January 6th Capitol riots incited by Trump.

In addition, Jordan made the bizarre claim that he didn't have to turn over so-called evidence provided by these paid shills to Democrats on the committee because it came from a whistleblower.

That's not a thing.

Democratic Representative Linda Sanchez of California taught him, “That’s not how committees work.” Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) stated that Jordan was violating committee rules by refusing to turn over evidence. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) gave Jordan the actual rules and instructed Jordan that neither he nor the alleged whistleblowers get to invent their own rules.

(*This subcommittee was formed to demonstrate how the federal government has alleged biases in law enforcement agencies, and is unfairly persecuting poor Republicans, as if investigating Trump for his long list of crimes is "persecution."  Seems like they're doing the persecuting on federal and state levels when they ban books, fire teachers, ban abortions, criminalize women who travel to free states to seek abortions, etc.)

Durham Probe Final Results: Big Fat Nothing Burger

Bill Barr's "special counsel" John Durham revealed the final results of his expensive four-year "probe" into the FBI's investigation into the Trump-Russia connection, and it came up with a big goose egg. Nothing. No alleged crimes, no convictions.

"We're going to investigate the investigators." Yeah. And you came up with nothing.

The conclusion: "Senior FBI personal displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor toward the information they received." That's a bunch of gibberish. Analytical rigor is not a crime.  But to people who don't know any better, like Fox's audience, it sure sounds official.

Durham's meaningless conclusion contradicts the Trump Justice Department's own review stating, "while the FBI made a series of mistakes, the decision to open the Trump Russia probe was justified as a matter of law and policy — and untainted by any evidence of political bias." And while no official conspiracy between Trump and Russia was found, they did find a series of contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians, and a campaign that was willing and eager to accept help from Moscow. 

Junior, Kushner, and Manafort all met with Russians.

Trump even begged Russia, on camera, to help in his election ("Russia if you're listening..."). And millions of posts from Russian troll farms containing outright lies and disinformation about Joe Biden showed up on every social media platform.

So did Trump and Putin criminally conspire? No, but Trump's campaign sure was excited about all the help they got from Putin.

The FBI stated that their own corrective actions have been in place for several years.

This is the second Durham probe that rightwingers and conspiracy crackpots have been salivating for, yet failed to produce a single crime.

Republican Jackass of the Week

 

Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.

What did this dolt say this time, you're wondering?

He defended having white nationalists and white supremacists in the U.S. military.

Earlier in the week Tuberville was interviewed by an NPR affiliate in Birmingham, and was asked about his blocking of military appointments. From the interview:

“We are losing in the military so fast. Our readiness in terms of recruitment. And why? I’ll tell you why, because the Democrats are attacking our military, saying we need to get out the white extremists, the white nationalists, people that don’t believe in our agenda, as Joe Biden’s agenda.”

WBHM’s Richard Banks asked, "Do you believe they should allow white nationalists in the military?” Tuberville responded, “Well, they call them that. I call them Americans.”

Not long after he clearly appeared to support extremists, white supremacists, and white nationalists in the military as "just regular Americans," his office tried to put a positive spin on it by stating, "he was being skeptical of the notion that there are white nationalists in the military, not that he believes they should be in the military."

But that's not what he said. Nope.

To make matters worse, he dug in a little deeper, and went on to say, “Democrats portray all Trump people as white nationalists. That’s what I was saying."

No, that's not what he was saying. And no one said all Trumpers are white nationalists. He clearly defended keeping those radicals in the military. The White House National Security Council said it was “abhorrent that Senator Tuberville would argue that white nationalists should be allowed to serve in the military, while he also threatens our national security by holding all pending DOD military and civilian nominations. Extremist behavior has no place in our military. None.”

For defending white supremacists and white nationalists, Tommy Tuberville is our Republican Jackass of the Week.

Why the CNN/Trump "Town Hall" was a Disaster

First, it wasn't a town hall, it was a Trump rally: filled with lies, grievances, and whining.  CNN chose former Daily Caller writer, Kaitlan Collins, to "moderate" it.  (The Daily Caller is a far rightwing blog founded by Tucker Carlson.)  

Second, the audience was not a mix of potential voters, but a couple hundred Trump supporters who previously voted for him or leaned in his direction.  They laughed at his mocking of rape victims, and cheered all his tired lies.

Third, for the entire 75 minutes, Donald Trump steamrolled over Kaitlan, refusing to answer most questions, refusing to acknowledge simple facts, spewing the same tired and disproved lies, and yakking over her repeatedly.

We could fill 20 pages listing and debunking all his lies.  We will not dignify him.  But a few of his biggest whoppers included actually claiming that January 6, 2021, was "a beautiful day" at the U.S. Capitol. He stated that if re-elected he'd pardon most of his rioters. He mocked E. Jean Carroll, calling her a "whack job" and claiming he'd never met her before, despite admitting posing for a picture with her. This, just two days after being successfully sued by her for sexual assault and defamation. He stuck to the lie that the 2020 election was rigged and he actually won.  He claimed he "finished the wall" at the Mexican border, despite Kaitlan managing to squeeze in the fact that only 50 miles of wall were completed. 

A savvy moderator would've asked, "if you finished the entire wall, how can there possibly be an immigration crisis going on right now?"

Trump moved on to claim that if re-elected, he could "end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours." He was never forced to explain how.

There are plenty of articles that will list and fact check every single lie.  We're not going to do that here.

Let's just remind you that Donald Trump is now a convicted sexual predator.  He called the thousand convicted violent insurrectionists "patriots" and promised to pardon most.  He was impeached twice for extorting Ukraine and inciting the violent riots on 1/6.  He stole multiple boxes of classified intel and ignored subpoenas demanding him to return them.  He demanded Georgia officials magically find 11,780 votes for him that didn't exist.  He's at least partially responsible for over a million American deaths by doing nothing to stop Covid during the height of its rampage through the country, instead making staggeringly stupid suggestions like shoving UV lightbulbs, taking malaria drugs, swallowing horse de-worming pills, or injecting disinfectant.

He went on to claim he had an absolute right to take classified documents, he "gave the order to deploy National Guard troops" on and before Jan 6 (he did not), and the U.S. military "has no ammunition left."  All false claims.

Trump lied, smirked, mocked, and lied some more during this whiny grievance-fest. He's proven he has zero ability to change or grow.  He simply cannot admit that he lost.  He is still wholly unqualified to be returned to the White House.