Devin Nunes Is the Emblematic Republican Hack of the Trump Era
The chairman of the House watchdog panel designed to prevent intel abuses is clearly now out to protect just one U.S. citizen.
MICHAEL TOMASKY
04.30.18 9:11 AM ET
The sickest thing about the Trump era isn’t Donald Trump himself, but the way the Republican Party has completely corrupted itself to be his servant. The media love to highlight Republican Never Trumpers, and there are many in the pundit class. But not in the politician class. Out of nearly 300 Republican legislators in Washington, exactly one has been courageous enough to call Trump the shyster he so obviously is: Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake. But he’s wimping out by retiring.
On the other side, the competition for Best Supporting Actor for the Man Who Lies Every Time He Speaks is intense. You’d have to rate Mike Pence high, but nobody cares what the vice president says or does—any VP, but especially this one. Paul Ryan is way up there, if only for that single sycophantic adjective “exquisite” (applied to Trump’s “leadership”) after they enacted the tax bill.
But I think it’s clear that the Oscar goes to Devin Nunes, because his corruption has consequences. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has a serious job. It’s a panel that has existed for nearly half a century, and it came into being to safeguard the republic against abuses of power by intelligence agencies. If you’ve never heard of Otis Pike, the Democratic congressman from Long Island, go Google him. He was exactly what a legislator in a democracy was supposed to be.
The founding mission of the House and Senate intel committees was to protect American citizens against abuses of power by intelligence agencies. That’s a noble goal; the kind of thing the government exists to do.
Nunes has corrupted that mission completely. He’s changed it from “citizens” to “citizen,” because his intelligence committee is in the business of protecting one citizen: Trump.
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