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During Thursday’s House Judiciary Committee hearings, Republicans gave up arguing on the substance of the two impeachment articles against Donald Trump and instead to audition for spots in the president’s next campaign ad.

No one did that more shamelessly than Ohio congressman Jim Jordan, who used his time during the impeachment hearing to play to an audience of one.

“You have a rigged and rushed process when you’re afraid that you can’t beat the president at the ballot box,” the Ohio lawmaker said. “This is about their concern they can’t win next year based on what the president has accomplished in the past three years. It’s an amazing record.”

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Video:

Rep. Jordan’s glowing review of Trump’s presidency:

You have a rigged and rushed process when you’re afraid that you can’t beat the president at the ballot box. When you’re nervous about next fall’s election, you have this kind of process, a rigged and rushed process. This is not about the concern — this is not really about the concern Mr. Swalwell talked about earlier, concern that somehow the president was going to do something wrong and try to influence the election. No, no, no, this is about their concern they can’t win next year based on what the president has accomplished in the past three years. It’s an amazing record, in spite of the Democrats being completely against the president, in spite of the mainstream press being against the president, frankly, in spite of a few Republicans being against the president, it’s amazing what’s been accomplished. Taxes have been cut, regulations have reduced, the economy growing at an unbelievable rate, lowest unemployment in 50 years, 266,000 jobs added last month alone, 54,000 in the manufacturing sector. Mr. Gorsuch, Mr. Kavanaugh on the court, a lot of other federal judges confirmed, out of the Iran deal, embassy in Jerusalem, hostages home from North Korea, new NAFTA going to be voted on next week. Yeah, it’s a rigged, rushed process because you guys are worried about next November.

Republican lawmakers are acting like Trump campaign staffers, not members of Congress

The GOP impeachment defense has evolved rapidly over the past few months, from a focus on the whistleblower (until that failed) to an obsession with the process (until that failed).

Now it appears that they’ve given up on any substance-based arguments and are instead auditioning to be the president’s favorite sycophant. What they seem to forget is that they’re members of Congress, not paid Trump campaign staffers.

The only thing missing from Congressman Jordan’s monologue on Thursday night was, “I’m Donald Trump and I approve this message.”

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