Divorcing Donald
The January 6 committee is helping Mitch McConnell and Rupert Murdoch dump Trump for a younger authoritarian
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It’s not that Republicans are opposed to lying.
In the 2012 campaign Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan lied so much that Ryan’s nickname became “Lyin’ Ryan” and a Romney campaign spokesperson told the press: “We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.”
It’s not that Republicans are opposed to cheating.
Merrick Garland would be on the Supreme Court today if Mitch McConnell wasn’t willing to abandon “fair-dealing,” create “Constitutional risks” and set aside two centuries of historical precedent to prevent Obama’s legitimate nominee from being confirmed.
It’s not that Republicans are opposed to rejecting the will of the people.
McConnell’s abuse of the filibuster has prevented popular policies such as universal background checks and voting rights from being voted on. Today, the Garland-free Supreme Court is rubberstamping the GOP’s racially based gerrymandering and voter suppression plans.
It’s not that Republicans are opposed to dirty tricks.
Bush only won the GOP nomination after people on his team launched a vicious racist smear campaign against McCain in 2000. Bush, the GOP and Fox News followed up in 2004 with the vile “Swift-Boating” campaign to help torpedo the John Kerry campaign.
It’s not even that Republicans are opposed to the occasional riot.
The 2000 “Brooks Brothers Riot” during the Florida recount was as carefully planned and seditious as the January 6th coup attempt. But no one got killed. No one even smeared shit on the walls. So the “rioters,” including the likes of Matt Schlapp, all got off scot-free and went back to their regular careers of lying, cheating, rejecting the will of the people and other dirty tricks.
It’s just that…
Donald Trump Isn’t One of Them.
Trump is not from a Republican dynasty like the Bushes or the Romneys. He’s the boss of a mob family like the Sopranos.
He’s not a movie star who acts like Ronald Reagan. He’s a reality star who behaves like Josh Duggar.
He’s not the kind of well-adjusted adult you can ever feel safe entrusting the nuclear codes with. He’s a tantrum-throwing man-baby who smashes plates, jerks the tablecloth off the table, and throws his lunch across the room.
RINOs Grab Back
While the Ultra MAGA wing of the GOP is busy “RINO hunting” and fantasizing about Trump’s resurrection and coming revenge spree, other forces are working to ease Trump’s poorly educated voters into the realization that Season Two of the MAGA Show will have a new star.
In fact, the pieces are lining up so perfectly, you’d think the whole thing had been plotted out on Mitch McConnell’s vision board the moment his wife Elaine Chao came home after quitting Trump’s cabinet in the wake of January 6th.
Great White Dope Ron DeSantis has been warming up in the bullpen down in Florida since he first rejected science and began practicing his Trump mannerisms in the early days of the pandemic. (Just set aside the brutal reality of his deadly, destructive and discriminatory policies.)
Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger have bravely stepped into the roles as the GOP heroes of the summer hit show “Saviors of Democracy,” aka The January 6th Committee Hearings. (Just set aside their continued support for all other forms of GOP voter suppression.)
One after the other, rock-solid and “principled” Republican witnesses are showing up on TV to testify not just to the crimes of Trump and his gang of thugs—but to reveal how “disgusting” and “unAmerican” those crimes truly were. (Just set aside the fact most of them would vote for Trump again in 2024 if they had to.)
And Then Came Cassidy Hutchinson.
When surprise witness Cassidy Hutchinson exploded onto the scene this week, she was an unknown to the general public, a brave young woman speaking truth to power—a highly credible first-hand witness to the crimes Trump, Meadows, Giuliani and their co-conspirators committed.
But on Capitol Hill, Hutchinson was a well-known figure. Before working in the White House, she was a staffer for House Republican Whip Steve Scalise and previously interned for Senator Ted Cruz.
Hutchinson’s background is more GOP loyalist than Trumper. Her testimony explodes Team Trump’s false narratives about tourists visiting the Capitol, some of whom accidentally pooped their pants and some of whom coincidentally brought a few weapons they never imagined they might use.
Hutchinson’s testimony also increases the legal jeopardy facing Trump and others. And it puts more pressure on other key players like Mark Meadows and Pat Cipollone to find the courage to testify.
But Hutchinson’s very presence in these hearings also gives the Republican Party a new, more youthful face—and helps the Party reposition itself for a new way forward.
Hutchinson is the embodiment of a conservatism that won’t tolerate shit being smeared on the Capitol walls or ketchup dripping down the walls of the Oval Office dining room.
Trump Has Always Been a “Cancer on Conservatism”
Before they all started working for—or bowing down to—Trump, every major Republican was opposed to and offended by Donald Trump.
During the 2016 campaign, future Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry called him a “cancer on conservatism.” Marco Rubio said Trump was a “con artist” and called on Republicans to “put a stop to this lunacy.” Lindsey Graham tweeted: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.... and we will deserve it.”
Three Supreme Court Justices and $8 trillion of added debt later, the GOP and Rupert Murdoch know they have gotten everything useful they could have gotten out of the One-Term Loser and that allowing him to return will only bring more chaos and despair.
With Trump exposed as a psychopathic traitor willing to kill his own Vice President to stay in power, it’s less and less conceivable that he could make a credible run for President ever again.
And the 2022 primary season is already demonstrating how Trump’s influence on the party is waning. In Georgia, his candidate for Governor got schlonged. This week, indicted election-denier Tina Peters was crushed in her bid to become the GOP candidate for Colorado’s Secretary of State. Meanwhile in NY, the Giuliani brand is so devalued that Drunk Rudy’s son Andrew just got decimated by Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin in the GOP gubernatorial primary.
From The Donald to The Ronald
McConnell, Murdoch and other conservative leaders are more than ready to dump Trump for a younger Mussolini. And they are confident that Ron DeSantis is ready for his close-up. Joe Rogan agrees! So does Elon! And even Fox News favorite Bill Maher is buying into the BS!
Right-wing extremists want to gain and retain power to keep all the greedy billionaires, guns-and-religion donors, and corporate polluters who feed them happy. And with DeSantis, the GOP and Fox News finally have a chance to return to normal programming—pushing policies designed to crush workers, restrict the rights of women, minorities and the LGBTQ community, and destroy the planet, just without Trump’s brand of overly conspicuous grifting and corruption.
In that light, the televised January 6th Committee Hearings would appear to align perfectly with a McConnell-Murdoch plan to divorce Donald and anoint DeSantis.
Unfortunately for the rest of us, an “electable” DeSantis in 2024 could lead to an even bigger tragedy than sending the mentally feeble Trump to another crushing defeat.
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I live in Florida, & you are so very right about DeSantis. He’s a cross between Trump & Putin. I thought that “Red Tide Rick” Scott was bad for Florida, & he was, but DeSantis is even worse.
Really good piece Richard , thank you .