The core mission of the GOP is now to defend abusers

[DonViejo]

It can't be trusted with power.

Jennifer Rubin · 1 hour ago

Amanda Carpenter, former speechwriter for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), had this to say on the subject of the Trump " target="_blank">White House’s protection of Rob Porter:

“They protect abusers . . . If you are willing to defend someone who hurt someone in this fashion you have no boundaries, you have no respect for the law.” She was speaking of the White House, which she rightly says has the primary mission to defend someone who bragged about assaulting women (and possibly obstructed justice and received aid from Russia in winning an election), but the same is true at this point of members of the entire GOP. They are, as we have noted, abusers in every sense of the word and in every aspect of the presidency and leadership of Congress.

They abuse the privilege of serving by hiring utterly unqualified and morally reprehensible characters. They abuse the privilege of the bully pulpit by spinning conspiracy theories (as Sen. Ron Johnson has done on two separate occasions).

They abuse their access to classified material by using it to smear the FBI and hobble an investigation into both an attack on our electoral system and a pattern of conduct that amounts to obstruction of justice, in the eyes of many ordinary Americans and legal scholars.

The GOP-led Senate abuses its power to advise and consent (after shredding the remainder of the filibuster) by rubber-stamping utterly unqualified judges, a Health and Human Services secretary with a record of questionable stock transactions, an attorney general who misled the Judiciary Committee as to his contacts with Russians, an Environmental Protection Agency director who doesn’t believe climate change is a problem and a commerce secretary with a bushel of conflicts.

President Trump abuses the office by keeping his business holdings, enriching himself, refusing to disgorge foreign emoluments, hiring his children who themselves have conflicts and refusing to disclose his own tax returns. The GOP-led House and Senate abuse their offices by permitting this.

The GOP-led House and Senate abuse the legislative process by rushing to vote on bills that their members do not understand — while denigrating the neutral umpires who score the bills (the Congressional Budget Office). They abuse language by saying a tax cut heavily weighted toward the rich and corporations is a “middle-class tax cut.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan appears ready to abuse his position as leader of the entire House, a coequal branch of government, by refusing to put on the floor a bill with overwhelming support.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/02/09/the-core-mission-of-the-gop-is-now-defending-abusers/?utm_term=.d7c8016d408c