The Most Pathetic Men in America (The Atlantic)

[DickKessler]

It’s been said before, but can never be emphasized enough: Without the complicity of the Republican Party, Donald Trump would be just a glorified geriatric Fox-watching golfer. I’ve interviewed scores of these collaborators, trying to understand why they did what they did and how they could live with it. These were the McCarthys and the Grahams and all the other busy parasitic suck-ups who made the Trump era work for them, who humored and indulged him all the way down to the last, exhausted strains of American democracy.

My final visit to the hotel, in February, coincided with the exact hour Russia was launching its invasion of Ukraine. It was one of those horrifically riveting news nights—flashes and explosions on TV and the sick mystery of what destruction might be concealed by the smoky darkness. Like Vladimir Putin, Trump will take what people let him take. He will do what he can get away with. The courage and character of Ukraine stands in perverse contrast to America’s cowering Republican Party, whose resistance might as well have been led by the Uvalde police.

I admit that I’ve been inspired by the handful of Trump-administration and state election officials who have testified before the January 6 committee. They have endured threats, smears, and constant intimidation in order to bear simple witness and perform their patriotic duty. In times like these, you learn to find hope where you can, in figures like Cassidy Hutchinson, the 26-year-old aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows whose earnest accounting of what she saw heaped so much shame onto the enablers of that horrific day. God bless her.

In contrast, you have Kevin McCarthy. He hates discussing 2024 on the record. Mostly because it involves talking about Trump. “Why do you keep asking me about Trump?” McCarthy said to me when I accompanied him to Iowa last year. It was as if the former president were sitting on his shoulder, watching for any sign of disloyalty. Whenever Trump’s name came up, McCarthy seemed to be bracing for an orange light fixture to drop on his head.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/07/kevin-mccarthy-lindsey-graham-trump-devotion-2024-election/661508/

Such pathetic pieces of shit in the Trump-cowed Republican Party.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. I wish I could write this well

[Brainfodder]

2. As if we needed told this?

Gimme gimme perp walks!

[Boomerproud]

7. I hear you.

[wnylib]

10. Agree. But make sure that the National Guard,

police forces, and military are on full alert first. And hope that enough of them are still more loyal to their oath than to a militia. The arrests will trigger militia violence.

We should not let the threat deter us. But we must be prepared to deal with it.

[Brainfodder]

14. We got this, they have to communicate and we know they aint the sharpest knives.

Damn they be fools if they... I can't even type it, no planting ideas.

[wnylib]

16. Fools, yes. But they are trained and armed fools.

They have Blackwater Prince on their side and are well armed. Many are current and former militia. Be ready for the enemy, but do not underestimate them.

[FakeNoose]

3. K&R Outstanding article

Long read, but worth it.

[Jade Fox]

4. Geezus. I've literally never met people as disgusting......

as the current big movers in the GOP described in this article.

[Celerity]

5. Kevin McCarthy is a worm of worms

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Who is the singularly most pathetic?

I vacillate between Graham, Cruz, and McCarthy.

[wnylib]

11. You left out the Turtle scum.

[Septua]

8. Why they did what they did is...

..why I have more contempt for the lickspittles than Trump.

[wnylib]

12. They did it to maintain power and keep

Hillary out of the WH.

[MyOwnPeace]

15. HE was their ticket to power........

HE wanted to 'play' President, be seen as #1, but had NO CLUE as to what his job was - nor did he care!
HE was more than happy to let THEM run things.
THAT was the arrangement:
He got to play "Leader" - THEY got the power to control the country.

[hunter]

17. Same with all the meat puppet Republican presidents starting with Reagan.

Nixon to their surprise and horror, a wretched person in so many ways, turned out to be a man they couldn't control. The masters of the Republican Party never forgot that, they never forgave Nixon for that.

Trump's only failure in their eyes was that he's a complete idiot who failed to get reelected. Otherwise the Republican Party accomplished most of their agenda with Trump, including the formation of an illegitimate supreme court.

[MyOwnPeace]

18. Interesting to bring up Nixon......

I was born and raised in a "Republican" house - heard and believed that "we cannot let Kennedy win because the Pope would rule the country" (yeah, my parents were 'old-time' Evangelicals!) - and, to my ever-lasting shame, the first vote I ever cast for President was for Nixon in '68.
(In my defense, I campaigned strong and hard for McGovern in '72 - and when Nixon resigned I pulled out my "McGovern" campaign pin and put a pin beside it saying "TOLD YOU SO!" )

Anyhow, I don't remember a serious 'dislike' from Republicans regarding Nixon other than President Eisenhower really didn't like him, but I don't remember the rest of the Republicans turning against him until the tapes came out. The Repubs even got Nelson Rockefeller as VP when Agnew resigned in disgrace (GAWD, Agnew would have been an IDEAL tRump cabinet member for sure!).
But here's a SERIOUS difference: AFTER the tapes were released it was REPUBLICANS who went to Nixon and said: "You do not have the votes - if impeached, you will be gone!"

Now the Repukes have voted down TWO impeachments and look to follow IQ45 WHEREVER he leads them.

And yes, Moscow Mitch will forever have that shit-eating, chinless grin just thinking about his marvelous Supreme Junta.

[hunter]

19. And here we are. Five fascist Catholics on the Supreme Court, all thanks to the Republican Party.

John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

The Catholic Church in the U.S.A. is fractured along the same lines the U.S.A. itself is fractured.

I'm a creature of the anti-fascist Biden / Pelosi Catholics. My parents didn't beat out of me the blasphemy, and heresy, and curiosity. And they never instilled within me the hypocrisy of those who pray on the fifty yard line claiming they are closer to god.

[MyOwnPeace]

20. OH!!!!! So my parents were NOT wrong.......

they just didn't know who would be delivering 'the homily!'

[hunter]

21. I'm too small fry that little peanut Salvatore Cordileone would ever deny me communion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Cordileone

I'm currently crossing my arms and denying communion to the Church when I occasionally show up for Mass because I'm uncertain that my motives are pure.

Nah, let's be honest. I've never been pure.

[MyOwnPeace]

22. LOL!!!!

Bless you, my Son!

There 'ya go - that should cover you for a few weeks!

[H2O Man]

9. Recommended.

[liberalla]

13. OMG the first paragraph alone has whet my appetite! This looks like a good read. Thank you!

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