;)
The Conversation -- November 10, 2023
Jeanne Whalen of the Washington Post: "President Biden and the head of the United Auto Workers on Thursday hailed the planned reopening of a shuttered auto factory in northern Illinois, saying the recent autoworkers' strike had pushed Stellantis to reinvest in the site and promise thousands of new jobs. The Jeep maker's pledge to reopen the facility was one of the union's bigger wins in the tentative contract agreement that it reached with the company late last month. It's also a win for Biden, who threw his weight behind the autoworkers' strike and personally lobbied Stellantis for the factory's revival. The tentative agreement, which still must be ratified by a majority of Stellantis's UAW workers, calls for the company to invest roughly $5 billion in Belvidere, a small city 70 miles northwest of Chicago." ~~~
~~~ Jennifer Bahney of Mediaite: "President Joe Biden had a comical moment while addressing United Auto Workers members in Illinois on Thursday in the form of a sudden thud that interrupted his speech.... 'I want the press to know, that wasn't me,' he continued to applause and laughter, as he broke into a smile."
Tony Romm & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "For the second time this year, the U.S. government on Thursday began making formal preparations for a possible federal shutdown, as hard-line House conservatives once again threatened to leave Congress unable to meet a fast-approaching fiscal deadline. With only eight days remaining [MB: make that seven] before current funding expires, the White House's top budget office told federal agencies to ready their plans for a major interruption, which could see millions of civilian workers and military personnel sent home or forced to work without pay after Nov. 17.... Even as the House prepared on Thursday to conclude its legislative work for the week, the chamber still did not have a fully developed plan in hand to extend federal funding, days after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) urged the public to 'trust us.'" ~~~
~~~ Epic Fail. Catie Edmondson & Carl Hulse of the New York Times: “At odds with one another on spending, House Republicans abruptly scrapped their legislative work on Thursday and left Washington with little progress toward funding the government and no plan to avert a shutdown next week. Speaker Mike Johnson, just two weeks into the job, had yet to give any public indication about his plan to prevent a lapse in government spending -- currently slated to happen next Friday at midnight if Congress fails to act. That effort would involve rallying deeply anti-spending Republicans around a stopgap funding bill that is likely to be a dead letter in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Instead of revealing a path forward to keep the government open, Mr. Johnson spent the week trying and failing to push through two individual spending bills that collapsed for lack of G.O.P. support." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The chaos caucus almost certainly wants to shut down the government. They're so anti-government that they seem to have a perverse strategy to prove that everything about the federal government, themselves included, is worthless. BTW, Mike, an actual leader would keep the kids in their seats all weekend, not give them a long weekend vacay.
Sour Grapes. Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ... railed on the Republicans who voted for his removal -- and bluntly predicted that one of his detractors would lose reelection next year. In an exclusive interview with CNN in his new office on Thursday, McCarthy said that GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina didn't deserve to be reelected in her competitive district next year -- and he questioned the wisdom of his GOP critics for following the lead of Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, whom he accused of leading the charge out of retaliation for an ethics complaint he is facing.... McCarthy referred to six of his GOP detractors as 'disruptors,' and said he was particularly surprised that Mace and Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett joined Gaetz in the effort to oust him. And McCarthy said the Republican Party would benefit 'tremendously' if Gaetz was no longer a member of the House, saying there should be 'consequences' for his action."
Pot > Kettle. Tori Otten of the New Republic, republished by Yahoo! News: Rep. James "Comer [R-Ky.] has for months accused [President] Biden of corruption, although he has yet to produce any evidence. In late October, he dropped a so-called 'bombshell': Biden had given his brother James Biden a $200,000 check with the words 'loan repayment' on the front. Comer insisted the check was actually proof of 'shady' business practices in the Biden family, despite the fact that multiple news outlets -- including conservative-leaning ones -- found evidence to the contrary. What's more, the check was from 2018, when Biden was not in office or running for president. But as The Daily Beast pointed out in a report published Thursday, 'if Comer genuinely believes these transactions clear the "shady business practices" bar, he might want to consider a parallel inquiry into his own family.' Not only did Comer also lend his brother $200,000, he did it in the sketchiest way possible, according to the report. Comer co-owns a farming business with his brother.... With this business, Comer and his brother have engaged in multiple land swaps over the years.... While he was swapping the land from his family's farming business, Comer held multiple important roles in agriculture oversight.... The Beast also found that Comer supposedly runs multiple businesses that do not appear to exist on paper." Thanks to Forrest M. for the link.
Tobi Raji of the Washington Post: "The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed its highly anticipated Thursday morning vote to subpoena a pair of close associates of two Supreme Court justices, after Republicans on the committee filed more than 90 amendments to slow the next phase of a months-long Supreme Court ethics inquiry. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee that oversees the federal courts, in a statement accused Republicans of 'jamm[ing] the gears of the committee' as it seeks to understand the extent of the gifts and luxury trips Dallas billionaire Harlan Crow and conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo provided or helped arrange for Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr." CNN's story is here.
** Jack Has a Plan. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A new court filing from [Jack] Smith's team this week reveals that the mob that stormed Congress in [Donald] Trump's name will be the centerpiece of his trial, scheduled to begin on March 4. It wasn't just an unfortunate reaction to Trump's incendiary remarks that day, prosecutors contend. It was a tool that Trump used to launch one last desperate bid to cling to power. Trump's criminal conspiracies 'culminated and converged' on Jan. 6, when he attempted to prevent Congress from finalizing Joe Biden's victory, argued senior assistant special counsel Molly Gaston. One of the ways that the defendant did so ... was to direct an angry crowd of his supporters to the Capitol and to continue to stoke their anger while they were rioting,' Gaston wrote in the filing.... By combining the Trump allegations with the riot, Smith is unlocking a mountain of case law developed in those Jan. 6 riot cases to tie Trump more clearly to the violence than he has been to date. In short, he's casting Trump as one of the 1,200-plus riot defendants who have already been charged....
"The words in Smith's filing are almost verbatim the case that the committee's vice chair, Liz Cheney, made at the panel's first public hearing.... To make [the prosecution's] case, Smith seems poised to adopt another tactic the select committee once used: testimony of the Jan. 6 rioters themselves, along with video of the mob's intense violence -- much of it coming after Trump repeatedly implored his supporters to march on the Capitol.... Dozens -- if not hundreds -- of those charged in the riot have pointed squarely at Trump for motivating their conduct. Thousands of Trump's supporters had already begun marching to the Capitol before Trump urged them to conduct their march 'peacefully and patriotically.'" ~~~
The new prosecution filing, which is here, was submitted in answer to Trump's motion to "prohibit federal prosecutors from even mentioning the chaos and violence unleashed by his supporters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021." This answer is worth reading, too, as it provides not only a narrative of January 6 events but also evidence that Trump himself has previously admitted, in court filings, that the the indictment "directly alleges that [the defendant] 'directed [supporters] to the Capitol to obstruct the certification proceeding,"' and argued that any Select Committee records of his and others' knowledge and intent related to actions at the Capitol on January 6 "is plainly relevant." (Also linked yesterday.)
Katelyn Polantz & Paula Reid of CNN: "A plumber, a maid, a chauffeur and a woodworker are among Mar-a-Lago staffers and contract workers who federal prosecutors may call to testify against ... Donald Trump and his two co-defendants at their upcoming criminal trial in Florida, according to multiple people familiar with the investigation.... Other likely witnesses also include Trump Secret Service agents, former intelligence officials, as well as people who were in the room with Trump when he was captured on multiple audio recordings referencing a military document about potential plans to bomb Iran, according to the sources. But the low-level workers who were the eyes and ears of Mar-a-Lago, if called to testify, could offer the public a new level of insight into the exclusive club and Trump's approach to sensitive national security information since he left office. Some of them are still employed at Mar-a-Lago."
Marcy Wheeler: "Right in the middle of an impeachment for extorting Volodymyr Zelenskyy to dig up dirt on the Bidens and Burisma, Bill Barr's DOJ shut down a corruption investigation into Burisma's Mykola Zlochevsky. Then, days later, Barr set up a process that would insert an allegation that Zlochevsky bribed Joe Biden into the ongoing investigation of Hunter Biden. That is -- by far -- the most scandalous allegation that has come out of the Jamie Comer and Jim Jordan-led effort to gin up an impeachment of Joe Biden. Bill Barr's DOJ shut down an investigation into Zlochevsky's corruption, and then mainlined an allegation of corruption involving Zlochevsky into the investigation of Joe Biden's son. To be fair, the claim that Bill Barr's DOJ shut down a corruption investigation of Zlochevsky didn't come from Comer or Jordan. It came from [Sen.] Chuck Grassley [R-Iowa]. Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: Just is case you were wondering if Barr's DOJ might have been politically corrupt right at the tippy-top. (Also linked yesterday.)
Elections 2024
Michael Wines of the New York Times: "Suspicious letters were sent to local elections officials in at least four states, the authorities said on Thursday, including to two locations in Washington State that were said to include white powders containing the toxic drug fentanyl. Preliminary tests indicated that letters sent to at least two of four Washington election offices -- in Spokane County and King County, which includes Seattle -- contained fentanyl, law enforcement officials said. Georgia authorities said that a letter bound for the election office in Fulton County, which includes much of Atlanta, had been flagged as potentially including fentanyl but had not yet been delivered. And California authorities said that they were uncertain what was in letters sent to election offices in Sacramento and Los Angeles. Fentanyl can be fatal if ingested even in small doses, but in general, experts say, skin contact such as what might occur when opening a letter poses little risk. None of the affected election offices reported that any employees were [was!] injured." The NBC News story is here.
Presidential Race. Matt Viser & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "President Biden ... is now facing an expanding list of declared or potential challengers who could further complicate his effort to win a second term and defeat leading rival Donald Trump. On Thursday, Jill Stein, blamed by some Democrats for helping to funnel votes away from Hillary Clinton in 2016, announced another presidential bid in 2024 as the Green Party candidate. And later in the day, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) ... announced he was retiring from the Senate and would spend the coming months traveling the country to gauge 'if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together.' [Manchin stories linked below.] Biden also faces nettlesome campaign opponents in Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) -- who recently launched a Democratic primary challenge declaring that 'it's time for a new generation' -- and from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who after flirting with a primary campaign is running as an independent in the general election."
Presidential Race. Margaret Sullivan of the Guardian: Reading the results of a poll that "showed Donald Trump winning the presidential election by significant margins over Joe Biden in several swing states..., [plus] Biden's low approval ratings, despite his accomplishments, and you come to an unavoidable conclusion: the news media needs [need!] to do its job better. The press must get across to American citizens the crucial importance of this election and the dangers of a Trump win.... Instead, journalists have emphasized Joe Biden's age and Trump's 'freewheeling' style. They blame the public's attitudes on 'polarization', as if they themselves have no role. And, of course, they make the election about the horse race -- rather than what would happen a few lengths after the finish line. Here's what must be hammered home: Trump cannot be re-elected if you want the United States to be a place where elections decide outcomes, where voting rights matter, and where politicians don't baselessly prosecute their adversaries." Thanks to Elizabeth for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "In an interview that aired Thursday night on Univision..., Donald Trump indicated that if he's elected in 2024, he may use the federal government to punish his critics and he defended his administration's separation of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border. During the interview on the Spanish-language TV network, journalist Enrique Acevedo asked Trump if he would weaponize the FBI and Justice Department on his opponents in the same way he claims federal law enforcement agencies have been weaponized against him. 'Yeah. If they do this, and they've already done it, but if they follow through on this, yeah, it could certainly happen in reverse,' Trump told Acevedo, according to excerpts of the interview.... 'They have done something that allows the next party ... if I happen to be president and I see somebody who's doing well and beating me very badly, I say, 'Go down and indict them." They'd be out of business. They'd be out of the election,' Trump continued....
"The decision to separate families [at the U.S.-Mexico border], he argued, stopped people from coming by their hundreds of thousands because 'when they hear family separation, they say "Well, we better not go."'" MB: I doubt this sounds any better in Spanish. A CBS News story is here.
Presidential Race/West Virginia Senate Race. Manchin's One-Two Punch. Burgess Everett of Politico: "Joe Manchin will not seek reelection to the Senate, a move that essentially cedes his seat to the GOP in deep-red West Virginia and removes one of Congress' most prominent centrist voices in either party.... Manchin has repeatedly declined to rule out a third-party run for president, possibly on a ticket funded by the deep-pocketed group No Labels. He indicated that he may not be leaving the political scene entirely, saying that he will be 'traveling the country and speaking out to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle.'" MB: Newsflash, Joe: A politician who avidly promotes fossil fuel is not "in the middle." Anyhow, I have the feeling Joe looked in the mirror and saw a distinguished senator who should be president. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: Joe Manchin's decision "not seek re-election [deals] a blow to Democrats' chances of holding the Senate next year.... Mr. Manchin, who served six years as governor before his election to the Senate in 2010, was seen as the only Democrat with a chance of holding the seat.... Instead, Mr. Manchin ... said he would continue exploring whether there was an appetite in the country for a centrist third-party bid for the presidency. That prospect has alarmed many Democrats, who fear such a run could doom President Biden's hopes of remaining in the White House.
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine
The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates are here: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't 'seek to occupy Gaza,' a slight shift in tone after his previous comments that Israel would be responsible for the Palestinian enclave's security 'for an indefinite period' raised red flags in the Biden administration. 'We don't seek to conquer Gaza ... and we don't seek to govern Gaza,' he said in an interview with Fox News late Thursday, adding that the goal 'in the foreseeable future' was to eliminate threats from Hamas militants. Israel announced a six-hour evacuation corridor on Gaza's main highway on Friday, after agreeing to 'tactical, localized pauses' for aid deliveries and fleeing civilians. However, this fell short of the three-day pause sought by President Biden, while aid groups described the pauses as insufficient for Palestinians growing desperate with little food or water, and nowhere safe to flee. ~~~
"Barbara Leaf, the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, said this week that the number of Palestinian lives lost in Gaza is likely to be higher than the 10,000 being cited by Gaza's Health Ministry. Leaf, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, told a House panel Wednesday the number of lives lost in just one month of fighting is probably 'higher than is being cited.'" ~~~
~~~ CNN's live updates for Friday are here: "US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave one of his most direct condemnations yet of the mounting death toll in Gaza, saying 'far too many Palestinians have been killed.' The US has offered firm support to Israel but Blinken's messaging has shifted in recent days. A hospital in Gaza said Israeli strikes hit near the vicinity of two hospitals in the north of the territory, where fighting has been raging. Israel has not commented on the strikes, but accuses Hamas of embedding itself in civilian infrastructure."
New York Times: "Israeli strikes have continued to batter the Gaza Strip since Israel's ground invasion began 13 days ago. As the Israeli military has encircled Gaza City and reached deep into the city, air and ground strikes have hit locations throughout the enclave where thousands of displaced people are known to be sheltering, including hospitals and schools."
From CNN's liveblog on the Israel/Hamas war, also linked yesterday: "Israel will begin to implement four-hour pauses of military operations in areas of northern Gaza each day, the White House says, to allow for humanitarian assistance and to allow civilians to flee. Israel will announce the timing of the pauses three hours beforehand, according to John Kirby, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council. 'We've been told by the Israelis that there will be no military operations in these areas over the duration of the pause, and that this process is starting today,' Kirby said." MB: It seems pretty clear, from comments President Biden made to reporters, that the U.S. is behind these temporary ceasefires. I doubt if Trump -- or any of the bozos on Wednesday night's debate state, would have instigated these humanitarian pauses. (Also linked yesterday.)
Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "An open letter condemning 'Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza' received more than 750 signatures from journalists on Thursday. 'We condemn Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza and urge integrity in Western media coverage of Israel's atrocities against Palestinians,' declared the letter, which noted that at least 35 journalists had been killed, with many other reporters losing members of their family, as a result of Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza over the past month." MB: That is a staggering number of journalists killed in less than a month. By comparison, in the 20-year Vietnam war, 63 journalists were killed.
Jake Offenhartz of the AP: ""Pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupied the lobby of The New York Times on Thursday, demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza while accusing the media of showing a bias toward Israel in its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. The latest in a series of near-nightly demonstrations since the start of the war saw thousands march through Midtown Manhattan to protest Israel's attacks on Gaza. At around 5 p.m., a small group of demonstrators led by media workers calling themselves 'Writers Bloc' entered the atrium of the Times building carrying a banner calling for a cease-fire. They remained for over an hour, reading off the names of thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza, including at least 36 journalists whose deaths have been confirmed since the war began. They scattered editions of a mock newspaper -- 'The New York War Crimes' -- that charged the media with 'complicity in laundering genocide' and called on The Times' editorial board to publicly back a cease-fire."
Share Article
Reader Comments (14)
A case of the pot calling the kettle black.
James Comer said that Joe Biden loaned his brother $200,000.
It's surefire evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Funny thing is, Comer loaned his brother $200,000 and was
involved in lots of shady land deals, like a $175,000 transaction that
was reported as $1.00.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/well-well-well-hypocrite-james-
155332927.html
Forrest,
But if anyone tried to investigate Comer, he’d scream “Political witch-hunt!”
On those packets of white powder:
Just missed the one delivered to the Skagit Country Auditor's office on Wednesday. It came in with the mail less than an hour after my election observation shift was completed.
The election office was evacuated, the counting process delayed--from what I heard the note that accompanied there powder demanded that vote counting be stopped--but resumed later in the day.
Yesterday's paper reported that in some of the four WA State locations hit by the "terrorist--pranksters" the offending powder was baking soda.
Makes me almost conclude there are folks out there who don't like elections....
BTW, when we all get together for a drink, I'll tell you more about the very nice 80 year old Republican election observer sitting next to me a week before who pulled out a buck knife and opened its five inch blade to cut some pages out of his meticulously kept observation notebook.... A comic moment to me, but it did cause quite a stir.
@Akhilleus: Right you are. And what is a "witch hunt" anyway? In my view, there are no witches, so a witch hunt is an "investigation" that goes after somebody based on a suspicion (or superstition) of something that doesn't exist or can't possibly be true. On the other hand, it isn't a witch hunt, if the investigation is based on apparent facts and later turns up more supporting evidence.
In the case of Comer, the Beast has found documentation that he lent his brother $200K & that he & the brother made some sketchy land swaps.
In the case of Trump, who wakes up from his nightmares every day screaming, "WITCH HUNT!" almost all of the investigations of his antics have struck paydirt. He has been impeached twice based on evidence which he, in part, provided -- like the "perfect phone call" and "be there, will be wild." He has been charged with 91 crimes in state and federal courts. A judge has found his company guilty of committing civil fraud. Another judge has found him guilty of rape under the New York state definition, and a jury has awarded the plaintiff $5MM in damages for defamation. There's A LOT of there there. IMO, the investigations behind these claims are not witch hunts.
Update:
Traces of fentanyl in our packet, too, according to this morning's paper...
@Ken Winkes: I'm afraid I would not have considered it "a comic moment" if an elderly guy sitting next to me pulled out a buck knife. I think I would have jumped up and screamed, "Knife!" the way actors/cops do in the police procedurals I watch.
P.S. Glad you didn't get dusted with fentanyl.
Speaking of witch hunts, we have a lot of people in this country who are not smarter than your average medieval Europeans despite all their many advantages.
With all these witch hunts going on why do we not hear more of all their drownings?
Democrats been a mess during most of my adult life since the great transition in the wake of the civil and voting rights era, when Democrats extended the promises of classical liberalism to people of color and as many of the traditional roles and interests of the two parties were reversed. Whatever vision they had when they welcomed Blacks into their party, of extending the promises of liberty and equality to American citizen, that vision was clouded by their close alliance with Wall Street in the 1990’s, which unleashed forces directly counter to those promises. Within the party the tussle among money and equality has continued.
While Democrats expanded their reach in the direction of progress, w Republicans expanded theirs in another. No long able to rel on corporate types, on small business owners, on Americans of Main Street’s traditional virtue to win elections, the Republican Party expanded in its own way. It welcomed America's fringe groups, the pro-lifers, the gun fetishists, the Cold War dead enders, the growing core of Christian nationalists, who had formerly been kept in the wings of our politics for a generation.
We all know what happened. Soon the inmates were running the asylum.
With the election of the Pretender, extreme became even more so. Crazy was the driver’s seat, and since the Republican coalition of crazy still remained a minority, not only was democracy itself soon in their sights, but many once commonly accepted meanings and understandings were turned upside down. Facts became alternative facts. Learning and science became swear words. Ethics generally, and especially in the White House were a laughingstock; criminality was excused or even lauded. It was not wrong; it was “smart.” Two impeachments based on substantial evidence were tossed lightly aside by Senate Republicans. Whatever it took to win was the Republican watchword.
The process of Republican purification continues. The Pretender weaponized the Justice Department for political ends but didn’t brag about it. He even denied it. But now, should he return to the White House, he’s made his intentions to use law enforcement for his personal ends explicit. On all fronts, voter suppression, the encouragement of massive amounts of money in politics, Republicans in the senate who won’t allow subpoenas to be issued in the SCOTUS scandal, Republicans in Ohio who vow to subvert the people’s will expressed in Tuesday’s election, in the House their unwillingness to fund the Farm Bill because of food stamps, the rest of the government because of, oh, whatever, Republicans show who they have become. It's all out in the open:
An autocratic bunch of cry babies dedicated to imposing their nasty vision of what the country should be on the American people. The are now purely nasty. And if they don’t get their loony way, they’ll shut down the government.
Ought be be some interesting conversations around the Thanksgiving dinner table.
Can’t wait.
On my morning walk today, I ran into (not literally) the billionaire
who lives part time at the end of our street.
He always comments on our garden when he walks past our house.
I asked him if he ever thought about claiming that his little house
up the street was worth millions so he could get bank loans on it.
He replied "I know where you're going with this, but I'm not one of
those dumb trumpers who think that was a smart thing to do, and
anyway, property taxes here are out of sight, so why would anyone
want to pay ten times what they're paying now?"
I guess he's a Democrat after all.
Your car may be spying on you
"A federal judge decided Tuesday against reviving a class action lawsuit against four automakers, leaving the case in limbo. Recorded Future News summarizes the allegations against Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, and General Motors, which the lawsuit claimed
had violated Washington state’s privacy laws by using vehicles’ on-board infotainment systems to record and intercept customers’ private text messages and mobile phone call logs.
The Seattle-based appellate judge ruled that the practice does not meet the threshold for an illegal privacy violation under state law, handing a big win to [the automakers,] which are defendants in five related class action suits focused on the issue."
Unwashed: you probably don't hear of witch drownings because witches float. If you drown, you were not a witch. Drowned human is a dog bites man story, not newsworthy, witchiness-wise.
If you float, then you get burned, if you can't fly away.
You would think that people who can fly and cast spells on a range from illness to death, and command spirits to do their work, would be running things everywhere and making sure you KNEW that they could zap you if you get out of line. So, witches must not be too bright despite all those skills, if they can easily be caught, tested and burned.
But, then, we never read of the burnings either ... so maybe they're smart enough to keep on the down low. Or, better, not exist.
Buried pretty far back in the WaPo is Speaker Johnson now saying that going after President Biden is not a priority, because Biden's popularity is slipping anyway.
"... But in this week’s private meeting with moderates, Johnson appeared to agree with Republican lawmakers who argued that since Biden’s polling numbers have been so weak, there is less of a political imperative to impeach him ... "
If the GOP really thought that the President was guilty, they would not be able to "de-prioritize" the case. Remember how hard it was to get DiJiT's first impeachment process underway, because responsible people found it hard to pursue even someone so clearly deserving of impeachment. Irresponsible people (R's today) don't find it hard, but they can't find the goods. So this "de-prioritize" idea is an admission of pure political frame-up.
How can so many people voter for these con artists? They're not even good at the con.
Liked the headline enough to click on the article.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/mike-johnson-christian-nationalist-appeal-to-heaven-flag-1234873851/