Tag: GOP now the cult of Trump

‘He’s a cult leader’: Trump primary opponent explains how the president keeps a stranglehold on the Republican Party

AlterNet logoNo one will ever mistake former Republican Joe Walsh for a centrist, let alone a liberal or a progressive: the former Illinois congressman was very active in the Tea Party movement during the Barack Obama years. But Walsh seems to have done some soul-searching in recent months; he’s still hard-right politically but now expresses regrets over some of the ugly things he said and did in the past — for example, promoting the racist birther conspiracy theory (which claimed that Obama was really born in Africa rather than the U.S.). And Walsh, in a February 6 op-ed for the Washington Post, warns against the cult-like tendencies of President Donald Trump’s unwavering devotees.

Many Trumpistas now detest Walsh because he is challenging Trump via a GOP presidential primary — that is, if they even know he is running for president. In his op-ed, Walsh acknowledges, “My chances are slim — don’t worry, I know. It’s been made even tougher by the party canceling primaries to shield the president from being challenged — and by Fox News and the rest of Trump’s lapdog conservative media denying me airtime.”

But Walsh goes on to explain why he’s seeking the 2020 Republican presidential nomination: a need for Americans on the right to stand up to Trumpism. And the more he has challenged Trump via his primary run, Walsh stresses, the more he sees how cult-like Trump’s sycophants are. For example, Walsh notes, he recently spoke at a GOP caucus in Iowa, where fellow Republicans wouldn’t listen to a word he had to say. Continue reading.

Trump Is a Would-Be Dictator

Within minutes of his Senate acquittal, he was tweeting a video depicting him winning every election for the next several thousand years, ending with the logo “Trump 4EVA.”

The domestic political Signal this week is an unfettered presidency—a would-be dictator given carte blanche by the Senate to break the law however he chooses.

Students of history may recall Germany’s 1933 Enabling Act, when the country’s parliamentarians neutered themselves in the face of Adolf Hitler’s demands for unfettered power, allowing the new chancellor to bypass the legislative body in drawing up laws. In so doing, they signed the death warrant for the Weimar Republic and ushered in dictatorship.

This week Trump has shown every sign of wanting unlimited powers. His State of the Union speech was a foul smorgasbord of authoritarian promises and rhetoric; and his response to the Senate’s entirely predictable vote to acquit him has been not humility but an assertion of raw power. Within minutes of the vote, he was tweeting out a videodepicting him winning not just in 2020 but every election for the next several thousand years. It ended with the logo “Trump 4EVA.” There’s a terrifying message here: Trump wants lifelong power, and for him it’s no longer simply a joke, a way to gin up his crowd. Continue reading.

While Cowardly Republicans Punt, Romney Plays The Long Game

Don’t you just hate it when someone uses a sports metaphor to teach a life lesson? So do I, usually. But with the Super Bowl not a week in the rearview mirror, it would be impossible to ignore the concept of the punt — getting out of a tough situation by moving the ball as far as possible toward the opponent’s end zone.

If you’re playing against a Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs, you’re merely buying some time before the inevitable score. But senators using that tactic in an impeached President Donald Trump’s trial are no doubt hoping any payback comes late, or not at all.

For them, it’s a way to satisfy both their consciences and a Trump-supporting voting base. Continue reading.

Trump celebrates end of impeachment with angry, raw and vindictive 62-minute White House rant

Washington Post logoHe spoke without a teleprompter. He cursed in the East Room. He called the House speaker a “horrible person.” He lorded his power over a room full of deferential Republicans. He mocked a former GOP presidential nominee and his 2016 Democratic rival. He played the victim again and again.

Two days after President Trump delivered what aides called an “optimistic” State of the Union address that made no mention of his historic impeachment, he ranted for more than an hour at the White House on Thursday in a “celebration” of his Senate acquittal a day earlier. But the mood — at least his mood — was not particularly celebratory.

Trump was angry, raw, vindictive, aggrieved — reflecting the id of a president who has seethed for months with rage against his enemies. This was the State of Trump.

‘I Believe He Abused His Position.’ Republican Governor Phil Scott Says Trump Shouldn’t Be in Office

(MONTPELIER, Vt.) — President Donald Trump abused his power and shouldn’t be in office, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a fellow Republican, said Thursday in a rare dissent from within party ranks.

The U.S. Senate should have been allowed to hear from more witnesses who could have provided evidence about the charges against the president, Scott, a frequent Trump critic, said at a news conference.

After being asked about the president’s acquittal Wednesday in the Senate,Scott said the outcome was almost a foregone conclusion. Continue reading.

Watch: Suspicious substance investigated outside Schiff’s office

Capitol Police closed off the hallway outside Rep. Adam B. Schiff’s office Thursday due to reports of a suspicious substance. The media was kept from approaching the corridor, but some lawmakers and staff were allowed through.

View the video here.

‘He’s obviously very proud of his body’: All the weird ways Trump complimented his GOP attack dogs

Dungeons, fictional attorneys and cauliflower ear were all on the president’s mind at his post-impeachment party.

President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon summoned a squad of his most ardent congressional supporters to the White House for what he described as a “celebration” of his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial.

Over the course of his impromptu hour-long remarks, the president heaped praise upon his top allies on Capitol Hill — but often focused on lawmakers’ physical attributes and punctuated his compliments with bizarre descriptors and superlatives.

Here are a few of Trump’s weirdest riffs on the elected officials who helped defend his imperiled presidency in recent months. Continue reading.

Treasury Department Hands Over Hunter Biden Info After Withholding Trump’s Tax Records

The impeachment trial is over, but Senate Republicans are pressing forward with an investigation into the Bidens

WASHINGTON ― The Treasury Department has given congressional Republicans sensitive financial information related to Hunter Biden after having refused to give Democrats President Donald Trump’s tax returns.

Yahoo News first reported Thursday that the Treasury Department handed over highly confidential information in response to a November request from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) for suspicious activity reports filed with the department by financial institutions.

Last year, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin blocked a Democratic request for the president’s tax filings, saying Democrats had no legitimate legislative purpose for seeking the documents.

 

House Republicans move Jordan to Judiciary, Meadows to Oversight

The Hill logoRep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will soon become the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, after the House Republican Steering Committee voted unanimously Thursday to have him replace Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), multiple sources told The Hill.

Separately, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) will take over Jordan’s top GOP post on the House Oversight Committee.

The move essentially installs two of President Trump’s fiercest allies on top committees, giving the administration two strong supporters to combat Democrats’ next investigations into the White House. Continue reading.

The GOP’s temporary sugar high for the economy has now worn off. Here’s the truth behind Trump’s ‘booming’ rhetoric

AlterNet logoDonald Trump has been on a mission this week to distract from his impeachment by touting his administration’s economic record. First, he launched a 30-second ad after the Super Bowl promising that “the best is yet to come.” Then, in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Trump highlighted the “American Comeback.” The speech was full of audacious—and characteristically inaccurate—claims: “our economy is the best it has ever been”; the “average unemployment rate … is lower than any administration in the history of our country”; and “wages are rising fast.”

The reality, however, doesn’t match Trump’s rhetoric. In fact, it would take much longer than a 30-second commercial to highlight the many ways that the U.S. economy isn’t working for all. Still, the moment provides an opening for Democratic presidential candidates to challenge the president’s record.

In 2019, for instance, the gap between the richest and poorest households in the United States reached its highest point in more than 50 years. The number of Americans without health insurance continues to climb following years of declines since the passage and implementation of Obamacare. And household debt is now in excess of $14 trillion, exceeding the pre-recession high. Continue reading.