“Average Republican officeholder: Yeah, but we’re better than that.
Such is the winsome mentality of the elected Republican in Congress— losing with dignity is actually winning!
No, dummy. Winning is winning. And winning isn’t for the sake of itself. It’s for the purpose of wielding power. If Republicans can’t do that on a simple task like impeaching a derelict cabinet official, they’re about as useful as a set of “His and Hers” towels for Lindsey Graham.”
Johnson clearly handed a “folder” in the SCIF. His flip flop coincides with his SCIF visit. Great example of how the Deep State intelligence actors coerce/bribe/threaten/blackmail the holdouts.
Two next steps in the plan:
1) Dems introduced bill yesterday to remove Trump’s Secret Service protection if convicted, which clearly is the outcome of the current trial. No juror can stand the heat of being outed and cancelled in NYC. He’ll then be incarcerated in NY’s Rikers Island.
2) Flip the House speaker either by vacating Johnson or getting a few GOP members to retire (to $$$ jobs) and electing Hakeem. The vote on Secret Service protection can go through.
I’m convinced more than ever that we cannot elect our way out of this situation. Even if Trump were to win, he would only be a speed bump on the way to full-blown tyranny.
Yet, the thing that depresses me the most is the cowardice and acquiescence of our fellow citizens. What’s it going to take for people to take action or even just disobey the regime? After every outrage against social, cultural, or political norms over the past 7+ years I thought, “surely now people will wake up and put a stop to this nonsense.” But no dice. Look how long it has taken to see even a modest public backlash against the trans madness in women’s sports and locker rooms. I mean, where are the real men? How have fathers and husbands allowed things to get this far?
Will locking Trump up be any different? I seriously doubt it.
Sad to say, you summarize my default attitude these days. There are signs of resistance of course, but the rot has gone deep. The spectacle of Dems waving their little Ukie flags yesterday in the House was revolting. We need a cultural transplant and I haven't seen signs of that, yet, no coalescing, just inchoate resistance at best. But there is almost certainly a true crisis headed our way, and that may make a difference. Things that can't last forever don't.
Through all these many years I have never been a David Stockman proponent, apologist, adherent, or even paid much attention to what he had to say. When I did, I disagreed with him. But well, doggies, he done blowed it up real good here:
“At the end of the day, what Washington now needs is a break-up of the GOP and the formation of a Peace and Freedom party from the remnants of the conservative GOP and the dovish left. Both have been ejected from the UniParty by today’s Republican and Democrat denizens of the world’s War Capital.” - From Stockman article cited above. Tremendous well written piece.
I've been reluctant to come around to that for fear of Libertarians. They've all gone silent about the guy in Argentina lately, who wants to NATO (scrap the "N", substitute for "N"?). But it's coming to a crisis--or so it seems. The system as we thought we knew it isn't working for ordinary people. The problem as I see it is a lack of a common culture. Most third parties reject a common culture on principle. Putin?
Credit to you for pointing out these seemingly unsolvable problems facing the US in a post-Constitutional era. A hydra-headed crisis with everything going wrong all at once…
I do think Sundance is right about one thing- there really is a plan to lose the House before the election to allow a vote to disqualify Trump. I don't think Johnson, Massie, and Greene are a part of it, but it is definitely wanted by at least 20-30 GOP members in the House, and it includes all the people bailed out before their terms were finished. They want it, but they don't want to put their names on a yes vote- so sandbagging and losing the House majority is the plan.
I concur. There are many on the right who are compromised with corruption and likely perversion with the CIA holding incriminating evidence from Mossad’s Epstein/Maxwell blackmail scheme. In addition they believe Trump will stop the flow of money into their coffers from which provides the funding for their lifestyle. But, like everyone, these are guesses as who can rationalize properly why so many so called conservatives betray the oath of their office and spit on the morals and virtues they profess to hold.
Sen. Rand Paul has directed a stern warning at former President Trump, cautioning that his continued backing of Speaker Johnson could alienate a significant portion of his base.
“If Trump supports this monstrous, unpaid for foreign aid debt buster, he will lose the very supporters who comprise his vanguard. Mark my words,” Sen. Rand Paul warned.
They don’t have the votes, particularly German and French, when they bring it up later this spring…but they are showing their utter ignorance and quite literally committing suicide in front of the World and could not care less….no responsibility…they just move to the next job or compound behind walls…
Mark, have you noted that the IMF and World Bank spring meetings have been the last few days? The US/Brits pushing the confiscation of the Russian monies, which would be an act of war per the WB/IMF rules…
This threat, has already pushed a growing change in settlement payments: Japan and India, for example, already pay for Russian oil/gas with Yuan.
This would lead to a “crisis” with the US debt as the rest of the World is making other plans to bypass the US/West. Worth a war before the collapse?
Lastly, the rest of the world is signaling that whoever wins the US election, it does not matter: Trump is viewed by many abroad as only slightly better - some brakes on the crazy clown car - but ultimately others are just leaving the US behind and making their own plans for the future…imagine the “leaders” of the world say 20 years from now, and none of them are US/West…
They certainly think that way…they have an India Project 2047 as they build towards their 100 anniversary of independence. Modi is about to get stronger with the elections underway. They are very much retrieving their spiritual roots. The US has virtually no understanding of what is happening and is not even trying to comprehend. The Indians would love for the US to be what it once was, but they are moving on given our utter decline.
I found it odd that Sundance thought Massie was compromised when it seems just as likely if not more so that Johnson is the one who's compromised.
Talk about a rock and a hard place. Damned if he's removed, damned if he stays. At this point, it doesn't seem to matter which wing of the Uniparty controls the House, the Senate or the White House, so I say remove him anyway.
Seriously, we are watching a show. I remember the last presidential election year, in which the global pandemic turned out to be a production planned far in advance, with a final dress rehearsal in October 2019. What is happening this year, that we will look back on and see that it was following a script?
It's a struggle to stay sane in a world full of lunatics, isn't it? I suppose the best explanation for all this is that the Deep State has thrown out all the rules and burnt its bridges. It's using every dirty trick it can to hold on to its power. Johnson is just another "devout Christian" who is neither, Sundance has lost the plot (his blog is like a cult these days) and Trump doesn't have the brains or humility to listen to what his millions of supporters are telling him.
Wasn’t Pence an untouchable devout Christian also? Yeah, how’d that work out. Disgusting how these cretins hide behind God’s name to shield themselves. Special place in hell for such creatures.
Whenever a politician presents himself as devout I become suspicious. Pence, if devout, would not have stabbed his boss in the back and would not betray the people he swore to protect, under oath.
I’ve thought that too, but his continuing support of the men who betray the country like McCarthy and now Johnson has me baffled. I miss Kevin Nunes, he seemed honorable, and forthright.
Gaetz, MTG, Massie (and in my state, Miller) may not have the votes to oust Johnson. A deal with the Dems to keep Johnson has been rumored for several weeks. It's all very fluid.
Depends on the circumstances. Obviously, if they could get their own guy--presumably Hakeem Jeffries--in they would do that. But that's probably impossible. There's also the scenario in which more of a GOP squish than Johnson is available. Might they support such a candidate? Never say never. Times are very different now.
Thanks! I never realized on a quick review just how fragmented the vote was when considering the parties and the supposed factions within them. You raise a series of great questions.
It seems the House is a mess and it also seems it is being weaponized to stop Trump (by both sides of the aisle). All of these considerations and your questions and comments lead me to the conclusion that our two party system is not sufficient to properly represent us. Along with you (I'm sure), I wonder: 1) How did we get here and what mistakes were made? 2) How do we escape the limitations of the current system while at the same time improving on it?
The questions are very daunting. Yet the problems and issues and questions do need to be raised as a necessary prelude to bringing about any change. Thanks for doing so.
How stupid is this man? The comment about Putin marching through Europe is pure gaslighting to incite the loyalists who share his ignorant perspective.
I’m reminded of something that Mark Twain once said, “Not even a burglar could have said that better”, it’s a great line and would be funny if this situation wasn’t so incredibly infuriating!! I could bite a frickin railroad spike in half.
The whole lot of them in DC, as my father used to say, “Wouldn’t make a pimple on a good man’s ass.” A despicable lot of traitors.
Sorry gang, but I’m in a foul mood over this outrage.
I was surprised to see Luongo criticizing Massie for trying to do his job in a snake pit. I've never heard anything about Massie being compromised. He's definitely not predictable. This is seen as a negative in the Beltway where after working to get elected, finally getting to the Beltway, your vote doesn't matter. Only one vote matters, in this case the Speaker's. As such, US isn't "free," is not a representative democracy. It's mob rule. Rep. Massie is the only member of congress who asked for a day or two to read Trump's $2 trillion "virus bailout" in March 2020. For this Trump raged that Massie should be thrown out of the Republican Party, that he was just grandstanding. When GOP Speaker Johnson was elected I recall being shocked at his financial profile which to me looked verging on bankruptcy, at minimum he can't afford to miss one paycheck. He's refinanced and has outstanding loans to the hilt. This shows a lack of judgement and lack of discipline, the last kind of person to be in charge of US taxpayer dollars. In Nov. 2010 the Tea Party gave the GOP House a landslide of 63 new seats-which enraged the GOP which much prefers to be in the minority. They told the new people to shut up and sit down. Until 1994 the House had been controlled by democrats for 40 straight years and no one complained.
At this point I don't know enough about him to agree. But I know enough about a ton of other Republican congress critters to know who our enemies are. They don't even make a secret of it. Look up Dusty Johnson (UP-SD) statements on the speakership controversies. He parrots the party gaslighting line perfectly. Use the tools you have when you have them but verify. If Massie is an agent of the Deep State I have no idea why he would be acting the way he is right now - plenty of others aren't challenging the UniParty at this point. It's those who have bad mouthed Trump and quit their positions in the lead up to the election that I would suspect first.
For the record, another recent piece on the “complicity and stupidity” of the GOP:
https://thefederalist.com/2024/04/19/democrats-just-blew-off-impeachment-of-alejandro-mayorkas-and-republicans-will-do-nothing-about-it/
“Average Republican officeholder: Yeah, but we’re better than that.
Such is the winsome mentality of the elected Republican in Congress— losing with dignity is actually winning!
No, dummy. Winning is winning. And winning isn’t for the sake of itself. It’s for the purpose of wielding power. If Republicans can’t do that on a simple task like impeaching a derelict cabinet official, they’re about as useful as a set of “His and Hers” towels for Lindsey Graham.”
Johnson clearly handed a “folder” in the SCIF. His flip flop coincides with his SCIF visit. Great example of how the Deep State intelligence actors coerce/bribe/threaten/blackmail the holdouts.
Two next steps in the plan:
1) Dems introduced bill yesterday to remove Trump’s Secret Service protection if convicted, which clearly is the outcome of the current trial. No juror can stand the heat of being outed and cancelled in NYC. He’ll then be incarcerated in NY’s Rikers Island.
2) Flip the House speaker either by vacating Johnson or getting a few GOP members to retire (to $$$ jobs) and electing Hakeem. The vote on Secret Service protection can go through.
SCOTUS intervention is the remaining avenue.
THEY’RE LAUGHING AT US.
I’m convinced more than ever that we cannot elect our way out of this situation. Even if Trump were to win, he would only be a speed bump on the way to full-blown tyranny.
Yet, the thing that depresses me the most is the cowardice and acquiescence of our fellow citizens. What’s it going to take for people to take action or even just disobey the regime? After every outrage against social, cultural, or political norms over the past 7+ years I thought, “surely now people will wake up and put a stop to this nonsense.” But no dice. Look how long it has taken to see even a modest public backlash against the trans madness in women’s sports and locker rooms. I mean, where are the real men? How have fathers and husbands allowed things to get this far?
Will locking Trump up be any different? I seriously doubt it.
Sad to say, you summarize my default attitude these days. There are signs of resistance of course, but the rot has gone deep. The spectacle of Dems waving their little Ukie flags yesterday in the House was revolting. We need a cultural transplant and I haven't seen signs of that, yet, no coalescing, just inchoate resistance at best. But there is almost certainly a true crisis headed our way, and that may make a difference. Things that can't last forever don't.
Through all these many years I have never been a David Stockman proponent, apologist, adherent, or even paid much attention to what he had to say. When I did, I disagreed with him. But well, doggies, he done blowed it up real good here:
https://davidstockman.substack.com/p/speaker-johnsons-ignominious-betrayal
"In politics there are no permanent enemies or permanent friends...”
“At the end of the day, what Washington now needs is a break-up of the GOP and the formation of a Peace and Freedom party from the remnants of the conservative GOP and the dovish left. Both have been ejected from the UniParty by today’s Republican and Democrat denizens of the world’s War Capital.” - From Stockman article cited above. Tremendous well written piece.
I've been reluctant to come around to that for fear of Libertarians. They've all gone silent about the guy in Argentina lately, who wants to NATO (scrap the "N", substitute for "N"?). But it's coming to a crisis--or so it seems. The system as we thought we knew it isn't working for ordinary people. The problem as I see it is a lack of a common culture. Most third parties reject a common culture on principle. Putin?
Credit to you for pointing out these seemingly unsolvable problems facing the US in a post-Constitutional era. A hydra-headed crisis with everything going wrong all at once…
https://members.ourcountryourchoice.com/actions/
I do think Sundance is right about one thing- there really is a plan to lose the House before the election to allow a vote to disqualify Trump. I don't think Johnson, Massie, and Greene are a part of it, but it is definitely wanted by at least 20-30 GOP members in the House, and it includes all the people bailed out before their terms were finished. They want it, but they don't want to put their names on a yes vote- so sandbagging and losing the House majority is the plan.
I concur. There are many on the right who are compromised with corruption and likely perversion with the CIA holding incriminating evidence from Mossad’s Epstein/Maxwell blackmail scheme. In addition they believe Trump will stop the flow of money into their coffers from which provides the funding for their lifestyle. But, like everyone, these are guesses as who can rationalize properly why so many so called conservatives betray the oath of their office and spit on the morals and virtues they profess to hold.
That's my operative assumption as well.
And remember what Johnson did on FISA.
Sen. Rand Paul has directed a stern warning at former President Trump, cautioning that his continued backing of Speaker Johnson could alienate a significant portion of his base.
“If Trump supports this monstrous, unpaid for foreign aid debt buster, he will lose the very supporters who comprise his vanguard. Mark my words,” Sen. Rand Paul warned.
They don’t have the votes, particularly German and French, when they bring it up later this spring…but they are showing their utter ignorance and quite literally committing suicide in front of the World and could not care less….no responsibility…they just move to the next job or compound behind walls…
Mark, have you noted that the IMF and World Bank spring meetings have been the last few days? The US/Brits pushing the confiscation of the Russian monies, which would be an act of war per the WB/IMF rules…
This threat, has already pushed a growing change in settlement payments: Japan and India, for example, already pay for Russian oil/gas with Yuan.
This would lead to a “crisis” with the US debt as the rest of the World is making other plans to bypass the US/West. Worth a war before the collapse?
Lastly, the rest of the world is signaling that whoever wins the US election, it does not matter: Trump is viewed by many abroad as only slightly better - some brakes on the crazy clown car - but ultimately others are just leaving the US behind and making their own plans for the future…imagine the “leaders” of the world say 20 years from now, and none of them are US/West…
The 21st century will be India's to lose.
They certainly think that way…they have an India Project 2047 as they build towards their 100 anniversary of independence. Modi is about to get stronger with the elections underway. They are very much retrieving their spiritual roots. The US has virtually no understanding of what is happening and is not even trying to comprehend. The Indians would love for the US to be what it once was, but they are moving on given our utter decline.
I knew that that would be an act of war.
Nothing new in the following rant about the worse-than-useless Republicans by Jesse Kelly with Tucker Carlson. But very satisfying nonetheless.
https://youtu.be/_potM4NB_a8?si=KF_UBZgHwlTFq67v
I found it odd that Sundance thought Massie was compromised when it seems just as likely if not more so that Johnson is the one who's compromised.
Talk about a rock and a hard place. Damned if he's removed, damned if he stays. At this point, it doesn't seem to matter which wing of the Uniparty controls the House, the Senate or the White House, so I say remove him anyway.
Very interesting take on this chaos. I can only assume all of the elected officers are compromised and we Americans are watching their show
Seriously, we are watching a show. I remember the last presidential election year, in which the global pandemic turned out to be a production planned far in advance, with a final dress rehearsal in October 2019. What is happening this year, that we will look back on and see that it was following a script?
It's a struggle to stay sane in a world full of lunatics, isn't it? I suppose the best explanation for all this is that the Deep State has thrown out all the rules and burnt its bridges. It's using every dirty trick it can to hold on to its power. Johnson is just another "devout Christian" who is neither, Sundance has lost the plot (his blog is like a cult these days) and Trump doesn't have the brains or humility to listen to what his millions of supporters are telling him.
Wasn’t Pence an untouchable devout Christian also? Yeah, how’d that work out. Disgusting how these cretins hide behind God’s name to shield themselves. Special place in hell for such creatures.
Whenever a politician presents himself as devout I become suspicious. Pence, if devout, would not have stabbed his boss in the back and would not betray the people he swore to protect, under oath.
I’ve thought that too, but his continuing support of the men who betray the country like McCarthy and now Johnson has me baffled. I miss Kevin Nunes, he seemed honorable, and forthright.
Cassander, I am curious on your perspective as to how this is fascinating...
Gaetz, MTG, Massie (and in my state, Miller) may not have the votes to oust Johnson. A deal with the Dems to keep Johnson has been rumored for several weeks. It's all very fluid.
Depends on the circumstances. Obviously, if they could get their own guy--presumably Hakeem Jeffries--in they would do that. But that's probably impossible. There's also the scenario in which more of a GOP squish than Johnson is available. Might they support such a candidate? Never say never. Times are very different now.
Thanks! I never realized on a quick review just how fragmented the vote was when considering the parties and the supposed factions within them. You raise a series of great questions.
It seems the House is a mess and it also seems it is being weaponized to stop Trump (by both sides of the aisle). All of these considerations and your questions and comments lead me to the conclusion that our two party system is not sufficient to properly represent us. Along with you (I'm sure), I wonder: 1) How did we get here and what mistakes were made? 2) How do we escape the limitations of the current system while at the same time improving on it?
The questions are very daunting. Yet the problems and issues and questions do need to be raised as a necessary prelude to bringing about any change. Thanks for doing so.
How stupid is this man? The comment about Putin marching through Europe is pure gaslighting to incite the loyalists who share his ignorant perspective.
Only the most brainwashed neocons buys that BS. And I have to believe that that nonsense appeals only to those on the MIC payrolls.
How many times in the past did I hear Putin was broke and running out of ammunition. Yeah, and he’s going to March through Europe.😂
Clown world.
I’m reminded of something that Mark Twain once said, “Not even a burglar could have said that better”, it’s a great line and would be funny if this situation wasn’t so incredibly infuriating!! I could bite a frickin railroad spike in half.
The whole lot of them in DC, as my father used to say, “Wouldn’t make a pimple on a good man’s ass.” A despicable lot of traitors.
Sorry gang, but I’m in a foul mood over this outrage.
I was surprised to see Luongo criticizing Massie for trying to do his job in a snake pit. I've never heard anything about Massie being compromised. He's definitely not predictable. This is seen as a negative in the Beltway where after working to get elected, finally getting to the Beltway, your vote doesn't matter. Only one vote matters, in this case the Speaker's. As such, US isn't "free," is not a representative democracy. It's mob rule. Rep. Massie is the only member of congress who asked for a day or two to read Trump's $2 trillion "virus bailout" in March 2020. For this Trump raged that Massie should be thrown out of the Republican Party, that he was just grandstanding. When GOP Speaker Johnson was elected I recall being shocked at his financial profile which to me looked verging on bankruptcy, at minimum he can't afford to miss one paycheck. He's refinanced and has outstanding loans to the hilt. This shows a lack of judgement and lack of discipline, the last kind of person to be in charge of US taxpayer dollars. In Nov. 2010 the Tea Party gave the GOP House a landslide of 63 new seats-which enraged the GOP which much prefers to be in the minority. They told the new people to shut up and sit down. Until 1994 the House had been controlled by democrats for 40 straight years and no one complained.
Our oppressors are and have always been those you cannot criticize.
We can criticize both, but you cannot criticize the……
At this point I don't know enough about him to agree. But I know enough about a ton of other Republican congress critters to know who our enemies are. They don't even make a secret of it. Look up Dusty Johnson (UP-SD) statements on the speakership controversies. He parrots the party gaslighting line perfectly. Use the tools you have when you have them but verify. If Massie is an agent of the Deep State I have no idea why he would be acting the way he is right now - plenty of others aren't challenging the UniParty at this point. It's those who have bad mouthed Trump and quit their positions in the lead up to the election that I would suspect first.