Live from the House Judiciary Committee!
What would Republican members have said if they’d been defending previous monsters in history?
James Sensenbrenner: “Members of the Tribunal, no evidence whatsoever has been provided by these Democrats to prove that my client, Adolf Hitler, did or said anything to provoke the murder of 6,000,000 Jews.”
Jim Jordan: “It is a patent hoax that my client, Pol Pot, murdered millions of his own people in Cambodia. That lie was spread by Hillary Clinton and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez!”
Matt Gaetz: “I am here representing an innocent man, Attila the Hun, against outrageous lies from liberals that he impaled people, raped women and wiped out entire villages!”
Louie Gohmert: “We shall provide evidence that Mr. Idi Amin, far from being the murderous monster Democrats portray him as, actually is a kindly philanthropist, who tried to stop Hillary Clinton from destroying the planet!”
Doug Collins: “Saddam Hussein is a good, decent man. His record with respect to his people is perfect. Why are Democrats, who routinely kill innocent civilians, trying to frame him?”
Steve Chabot: “The lies being spread by Demon-crats about Kenneth Dahmer are outrageous. There is no evidence that he killed anyone, much less ate them.”
Martha Roby: “How dare these Democrats accuse Mr. Ted Bundy of doing anything wrong? Why, as a woman and a Republican, I can tell you, Nobody that handsome and Christian could be a murderer!”
Debbie Lesko: “This hearing is a total sham. My client, the Asteroid, did smash into the Earth—but she did NOT kill off the dinosaurs! Democrats haven’t offered a shred of proof to the contrary!”
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Well, readers, that was a bit of fantasy. It was brought on by listening to opening statements yesterday from Republicans at the Judiciary Committee’s first hearings—statements that are in total defiance of the facts, and simply prove that these Republicans will support any crime by Trump, as long as they get their tax cuts, money from their big religious and corporate donors, golf outings with their leader, and assurances that they will not get primaried.
I need not point out my outrage at their conduct—you’re as outraged as I. I need not point out how severely History will treat them. You already know that. All I want to do, by writing these words, is to be with you—commiserate with you—empathize and sympathize with you. We are appalled, but it’s better to be appalled with your friends than alone.
Yet we are not alone. A majority of the American people wants to impeach and remove this president, this stain on our nation. He will be impeached. He will not be convicted by his tools in the Senate. He will then scream “EXONERATION!” at the top of his boorish lungs, and the fools, traitors and vulgarians who support him will erupt in cheers. When the Senate acquits, it will be a hard time for Democrats—a time of testing. There will be voices (some on our side) crying out against Schiff, or Pelosi, or Democratic strategy in general. Let us not be distracted by those voices. They are wrong, We are right. This president has committed High Crimes and Misdemeanors, and the House Democrats had no choice—no choice at all—but to uphold their Constitutional duty by conducting these hearings and voting to impeach. What Trump is accused of really is awful. His crimes weren’t petty; they are blatant and monumental and ongoing. He is the most corrupt president in our history, and his Republican Party is the worst, the most treasonous and despicable, since the nation’s founding.
So let the chips fall where they may. We have to protect America, our freedoms and our basic democracy. We will not yield! As Speaker Pelosi said at her press conference this morning, “Don’t Mess With Me!”
