A sobering read brought by the undoubtable Digby will wake you up on a Monday morning more than a double shot of Adderall-laced espresso. Short-story long, the Republican party is beyond caring what the law says, which – admittedly, has been the case for some time. The new development is that the Republican party now no longer cares about even pretending to care about the law. They are tyrants, doing what tyrants do. Rule with an iron fist, until you stop them, which is dangerous to even attempt.

Just a quick refresher course for those who have been asleep or living their lives the last three years:

During the 2016 campaign, he proudly declared that he meant to torture, kill civilians and “take the spoils” of war if he wanted to. Today, he’s pardoning war criminals and bringing them up on stage at political events. While he does lie profusely and conspires with his henchmen, much of his alleged criminal behavior in the White House has been done right out in the open. He admitted he fired former FBI Director James Comey because Comey was investigating him. He dangled pardons and intimidated witnesses in public statements. Most recently he released a transcript of a phone call in which he tried to coerce a foreign leader to smear his political rival, calling it “perfect.”

Ouch. That is quite the list.

All of it true, and all of it humiliating. Try this exercise, pick a country with which we’re mostly unfamiliar, like “Peru.” I don’t know a thing about Peru other than it’s beautiful and they have badass telescopes. Pretend you just read that the president of Peru did all the above. We would conclude that Peru was ruled by a ruthless strongman, autocrat, dictator, correct?

Except that’s the Republicans’ guy.

But no one man can rule alone, he needs followers willing to do his every bidding:

Now Republican leaders are following his lead. They don’t bother to pretend that they are following rules anymore, or make arguments based on a common understanding of what the Constitution requires. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has announced he has no plans to even feign seriousness with the Senate impeachment trial of Trump. He has said right out in the open that he planned to follow the president’s lead and do whatever Trump wants him to do.

I doubt even we appreciate how big a change has occurred even since the beginning of 2018! Prior to 2018, Lindsey Graham had noted that there would be “hell to pay” if Trump fired Jeff Sessions (remember him?) as A.G. Think of Lindsey Graham saying anything of the sort today!

This Lindsey Graham:

Question: "Is it ever okay for an American president to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival?" Sen. @LindseyGrahamSC: "Yeah, I think it's okay to talk about this kind of stuff." pic.twitter.com/Qp9cWfnlQj — The Hill (@thehill) December 15, 2019

What the fck!

And you haven’t heard the bad part yet!

“This thing will come to the Senate, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly.” When asked if he thought that was an appropriate thing to say under the circumstances, he replied, “Well, I must think so because I’m doing it. I am trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind. I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here. What I see coming, happening today, is just partisan nonsense.”

It is just “partisan nonsense” and thus Lindsey Graham is going to respond with bigger bolder partisan nonsense. Now, perhaps we need to go a little easier on Lindsey because I am near positive he has been utterly compromised, likely through a grave threat. That’s the way Trump and his heroes operate. If Graham is not protecting someone’s life by selling his political soul, well, then he’ll have to answer for that at some point, ideally prior to death.

Digby goes on to note there is a battle going on between Trump and the Senate leaders, Graham and McConnell. Graham and McConnell want a quick, one day (or one week) trial. Trump, on the other hand, wants TV drama. He wants a ratings extravaganza. He wants to punish the people who are putting him through this.

The possible compromise should scare the living shit out of you, because it makes me tremble. The compromise would be a quick trial, followed by Senate investigations into the Bidens, led by Graham, and this would be American criminal investigation. Recall that I have long warned about “show trials” coming in 2020.

Witness Viktor Shokin: Holds doc’s proving money laundering by Burisma & Biden’s. Fired due to VP Biden’s threat not to release $1B in vital US aid. Shokin’s med records show he was poisoned, died twice, and was revived. Lots of heads will roll in Ukraine if this opens up. pic.twitter.com/1W1OgkumXA — Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) December 15, 2019

If you’re not afraid yet, you’re not paying close enough attention.

Graham told Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” on Sunday, “Rudy, if you want to come and tell us what you found, I’ll be glad to talk to you. We can look at what Rudy’s got on Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and anything else you want to look at after impeachment. But if Rudy wants to come to the Judiciary Committee and testify about what he found, he’s welcome to do so.”

Excuse me, but look the fck out. Wanna know who is feeding Rudy “Information”? It would be the world’s worst criminals, Putin and his gang, Firtash et. al. and that “evidence” is going to hit the chambers in the United States Senate, and it will all be bullshit, tearing apart a “good man” like Joe Biden.

Digby’s conclusion is one we’ve discussed here, frequently. The Republicans have learned a lesson. They can avoid the law, they can mock the law, so long as they do it openly and unapologetically. Their 40% will not punish them in any way, they’ll simply cheer louder. “Own the libs” especially if it’s done with dictatorial power and fear.

Before anyone gets excited about the fact that 40% never won anyone an election, recall that no party ever thought outright cheating was a good idea, either.

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Peace, y’all

Jason

jmiciak@yahoo.com and on Twitter @MiciakZoom