Congressional GOP and Fox News Are Worse Than Trump

As I mentioned in the other thread, in a way, I think the Congressional GOP and conservative media outlets (including radio pundits) that either actively enable Trump or largely stand by silently are actually worse than Trump. I actually believe that if they vigorously and vocally opposed Trump, it could actually be a kind of proud moment in our history (or at least mitigate the way Trump has embarrassed and disgraced us), and it could serve as a big blow to authoritarian regimes like Russia. But, alas, something close to the opposite has happened. Like the other thread, I’m going to use this thread as a collection of evidence for this claim. Here’s one I saw today from Fox News’s Sean Hannity:

Edit (1/30/2018)

Edit (2/8/2018)

This is how bad it’s gotten:

(3/5/2018)

3/12/2018

That House GOP in HPSCI putting an end to Russia investigation soon surprises me. I don’t think it would be so fast. The whole thing, especially with Devin Nunes’s antics have been a joke. And Paul Ryan seemed to be OK with all of this. GOP is awful.

Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D) response:

3/20/2018

Colonel Ralph Peters, a commentator on Fox News, has written a damning letter, explaining why he will no longer be working at the outlet. I highly recommend reading it.

Some excerpts:

In my view, Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration. When prime-time hosts–who have never served our country in any capacity–dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community (in which I served) and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller–all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of “deep-state” machinations– I cannot be part of the same organization, even at a remove. To me, Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.

As a Russia analyst for many years, it also has appalled me that hosts who made their reputations as super-patriots and who, justifiably, savaged President Obama for his duplicitous folly with Putin, now advance Putin’s agenda by making light of Russian penetration of our elections and the Trump campaign. Despite increasingly pathetic denials, it turns out that the “nothing-burger” has been covered with Russian dressing all along. And by the way: As an intelligence professional, I can tell you that the Steele dossier rings true–that’s how the Russians do things. The result is that we have an American president who is terrified of his counterpart in Moscow.

(emphasis added)

3/31/2018

4/5/2018

Not sure if this is entirely relevant, but I thought some of the comments were interesting.

4/10/2018

This exchange makes me want to pull my hair out:

I would be really surprised if he’s the only one that feels this way. (Some of Senator Corker’s public statements strongly suggests he’d be at least one other person.) If many Republicans feel this same, here’s one thing that drives me crazy: You have all this talk about the Deep State opposing Trump, you have Trump saying the media is “fake news,” you have Fox News and other conservative pundits pushing this propaganda–and the truth is that many Congressional Republicans actually think Trump is totally unfit, and possibly a danger to the country! If many Congressional Republicans believe Trump is totally unfit, it weakens the claim that the liberal media, “deep state,” or Democrats just hate Trump and are out to get him. But the congressional Republicans who think Trump is unfit allows these narratives to have life, and in my view they jeopardize the republic, and the rule of law.

4/11/2018

Here’s more of the conversation with the GOP Congressman above.

Also, this is irresponsible and reprehensible:

Edit

I’m not sure how Ryan will feel about how he handled himself as Speaker, especially during Trump Presidency, but a part of me genuinely feels sorry for him. If I were in his position and looked back on my time with Trump, I’m not sure I could live comfortably with myself. I can imagine it would be awful.

4/16/2018

4/17/2018

Just leaving this here. Even if Trump doesn’t fire Mueller (or Rosenstein), that McConnell says he woudl be “shocked” if Trump fires Mueller shows poor judgment on his part.

4/26/2018

It’s hard not to see this as a direct result of many Republican politicians and conservative media/pundits–and Donald Trump himself. This is really bad.

5/24/2018

6/19/2018

I agree with pretty much everything in this thread. If McConnell and Ryan and other GOP leaders–if conservative pundits like Hannity, Carlson, Limbaugh–were like Schmidt I’d be very confident we’d get out this mess, and I think we’d come out stronger. Even thought Trump is a stain on our reputation, if the GOP were like Schmidt we could show the world the best of the U.S., and it could be a huge blow to Russia. If only….

6/23/2018

I’m wary of edited video like this as it can be easily done to mislead people. However, this does seem to fit a pattern from Fox News:

Also, I agree with Apatow.

7/3/2018

Some of Hume’s comments to this are troubling as well.

I read this as, Trump can say racist things, but it doesn’t matter because he chose conservative justice. Basically, Trump can say a lot of awful things, and it doesn’t matter if conservative policies are implemented. Hume ignores corruption, undermining of alliances and rule-based international system, zero tolerance immigration policy (or maybe he likes that?), among many other things.

7/6/2018

7/13/2018

My understanding is that Wohl works for Fox News:

7/19/2018

This is depressing. I really hope this applies to a small minority of conservatives. I wonder to what degree this would apply to liberals.

8/6/2018

If the following is truly a “profound dilemma” for GOP, then that’s proof they’ve totally lost their way.

8/15/2018

9/13/2018

This is partly what the tweets are referring to:

9/21/2018

Ornstein has been emotional at times (which isn’t inappropriate given the times), but I still respect him.

McConnell is awful. If Ornstein is wrong, it’s scary to think of who caused more destruction.

10/8/2018

That it is necessary to place limitations, including self-limitations, on the exercise of power is—or was—a core belief among conservatives. No longer. Raw power, wielded so deftly by Senator Mitch McConnell, is exercised for its own sake, and by that I mean for the sake of fleecing gullible voters on hot-button social issues so that Republicans may stay in power. Of course, the institutional GOP will say that it countenances all of Trump’s many sins, and its own straying from principle, for good reason (including, of course, the holy grail of ending legal abortion).

Politics is about the exercise of power. But the new Trumpist GOP is not exercising power in the pursuit of anything resembling principle, and certainly not for conservative or Republican principles.

11/28/2018

12/12/2018

12/14/2018

Addendum: Somewhat positive sign.

12/23/2018

I don’t know the person, and I don’t know if this quote is accurate, but I think it’s apropos.

1/15/2019

In 2016, some of Lindsay Graham’s tweets about Trump:

<b>2/25/2019</b>

The Republicans have no plan to deal with climate change, which is the most urgent planetary emergency in human history, but they will very likely vote to uphold the current phony emergency created by the President.— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) February 25, 2019

<b>3/4/2019</b>

.@JaneMayerNYer on Fox News’ transition from partisanship to propaganda: https://t.co/O7QV1kecUG pic.twitter.com/qwpSLJhbu3— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) March 4, 2019

<blockquote>Nicole Hemmer, an assistant professor of Presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center and the author of “Messengers of the Right,” a history of the conservative media’s impact on American politics, says of Fox, “It’s the closest we’ve come to having state TV.”

Hemmer argues that Fox—which, as the most watched cable news network, generates about $2.7 billion a year for its parent company, 21st Century Fox—acts as a force multiplier for Trump, solidifying his hold over the Republican Party and intensifying his support. “Fox is not just taking the temperature of the base—it’s raising the temperature,” she says. “It’s a radicalization model.” For both Trump and Fox, “fear is a business strategy—it keeps people watching.”</blockquote>

Reading the article, it’s hard not to view Fox News and Rupert Murdoch as a menace to a democratic republic.

19 thoughts on “Congressional GOP and Fox News Are Worse Than Trump”

  1. Conservatives like Nicole Wallace and Charlie Sykes are really important, as I’ve been saying, but I just want to be clear-eyed about this. I say that Fox News and conservative pundits support Trump because of money, but some anti-Trump conservatives in the media can also benefit financially from their stance. They’re just securing a different niche market. In other words, both sides can be doing things for financial reasons. We should also be cognizant of this when it comes to liberal or moderate critics of Trump. Just as conservative media profits, literally, from bashing Clinton, liberal media can literally profit from bashing Trump.

    I should also add that a conservative like Evan McMullin might be able to advance his political career, while not doing anything to hurt it (He’s not holding an elected office.).

    Again, I’m not saying this to criticize any of these conservatives. That’s not my intention or point. My point is that the way these individuals profit, financially or politically, should also be kept in mind. I tend not to think that this is their primary motivation, though, and at this point, the well-being of the country depends a lot on conservatives like this.

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  2. GOP Setting Table to Fire Rosenstein and/or Undermine Mueller Investigation

    That’s what Greg Sargent claims in his op-ed below. I agree with everything he says. Some House Republicans are asking for James Comey’s memos of his conversations with Trump, ostensibly as an act of oversight over the Mueller investigation. But one has to ask if the Republicans are doing this because they genuinely care about oversight and they have good reasons for wanting this memo. I can’t think of many House Republicans that have acted in good faith so far. See if you find Sargent’s case persuasive below.

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  3. How Republicans and Conservative Should Be Responding to Trump

    I have some examples above, but I thought a separate post to collect them would be appropriate. Here’s George Will urging people to vote against GOP this year.

    I liked this line:

    Ryan and many other Republicans have become the president’s poodles, not because James Madison’s system has failed but because today’s abject careerists have failed to be worthy of it.

    7/17/2018

    7/26/2018

    7/31/2018

    Maybe Flake is doing something?

    12/17/2018

    (Comey was a Republican, but I’m not sure if he still is.)

    1/14/2019

    “There is no place in the Republican Party, the Congress or the country for an ideology of racial supremacy of any kind,” McConnell said in a statement released from his office. “I have no tolerance for such positions and those who espouse these views are not supporters of American ideals and freedoms. Rep. King’s statements are unwelcome and unworthy of his elected position.”
    McConnell added, “If he doesn’t understand why ‘white supremacy’ is offensive, he should find another line of work.”

    This statement, backed by removing King from serving in any committees, is a strong rebuke against King’s racist statements. I applaud the move. This precisely the kind of thing–strong words plus substantive actions–that I wanted to see when Trump said or did something totally inappropriate–e.g., “many fine people on both sides;” actions that lead to separating children and families at the border; conflicts of interest and national security risks, etc. As a country we could be in a much better place if McConnell and Ryan did more things like this earlier in the Trump regime.

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    1. More of this from conservative media pundits and Congressional Republicans could really make a difference. I hope this is the beginning of a new trend.

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    2. Whether I agree with their policies or politics, these are true Americans, true patriots in my opinion–and I feel a strong connection to them:

      I’m genuinely sad and disappointed that congressional Republicans aren’t/weren’t more like this. They would have been American heroes to me.

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  4. 9/17/2018

    I agree with the description of the GOP by this former Facebook chief security officer. If the description is accurate, how is this not a betrayal of the country?

    11/7/2018

    I really think more people would have risen up against Trump–or less people would have supported Trumpism–if GOP leaders and Fox News weren’t enabling and supporting Trump.

    12/10/2018

    Thread covering comments from Senator Orrin Hatch:

    Hatch dismisses allegations of Trump crimes over hush money.
    Asked if he had any concerns, Hatch said: “The Democrats will do anything to hurt this president.” Told it was alleged by SDNY, Hatch told me: “Okay but I don’t care; all I can say is he’s doing a good job as President”

    Hatch added this when asked if he was concerned about allegations.
    “No because I don’t think he was involved in crimes but even then, you know, you can make anything a crime under the current laws; if you want to you can blow it way out of proportion you can do a lot of things.”

    Hatch also told me: “President Trump before he became president that’s another world. Since he’s become president this economy has charged ahead. … And I think we ought to judge him on that basis other than trying to drum up things from the past that may or may not be true.”

    Grassley, the Senate Judiciary chairman, similarly dismisses the federal prosecutors’ argument: “They based it on what a liar says, so it hurts the credibility of it.”

    12/21/2018

    Republicans in Washington are “truly scared for America,” but they’re not willing to say this publicly. Whatever the reason, this is deplorable and disgusting; they’re unfit to govern.

    Newt Gingrich’s Role in the Demise of the GOP

    How Newt Gingrich Destroyed American Politics from the Atlantic. If the claims from the article are accurate (listed below), Gingrich is a reprehensible American

    The way he saw it, Republicans would never be able to take back the House as long as they kept compromising with the Democrats out of some high-minded civic desire to keep congressional business humming along. His strategy was to blow up the bipartisan coalitions that were essential to legislating, and then seize on the resulting dysfunction to wage a populist crusade against the institution of Congress itself. “His idea,” says Norm Ornstein, a political scientist who knew Gingrich at the time, “was to build toward a national election where people were so disgusted by Washington and the way it was operating that they would throw the ins out and bring the outs in.”

    ***

    While candidates fanned out across the country to campaign on the contract, Gingrich and his fellow Republican leaders in Congress held fast to their strategy of gridlock. As Election Day approached, they maneuvered to block every piece of legislation they could—even those that might ordinarily have received bipartisan support, like a lobbying-reform bill—on the theory that voters would blame Democrats for the paralysis.

    5/8/2019

    Just noting Sen. McCarthy’s position here on collusion with Russia. Essentially, he’s saying they did nothing wrong–nothing that would either warrant the end or come close to ending a presidency. I disagree with him.

    Senator McConnell also made a speech the other day, saying they should move on from the Mueller report.

    I predict these positions will look badly in the future (if we are still a republic).

    11/8/2019

    Bad if this excerpt is not out of context:

    11/21/2020

    11/22/2020

    This thread by Michael Gershon, a conservative columnist, sums up my feelings about congressional Republicans.

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  5. I don’t think this is far off.

    Let me say it again: the Republican Party is the biggest threat the United States is facing. And without proper attribution, recognition, and a well-articulated and implemented counter-strategy, it could be terminal.

    There is no other reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the facts.

    An enemy of the United States might seek to sow discord between ethnic groups, or to wage a disinformation campaign, or to highlight moral inconsistencies that weaken the standing of the United States on the world stage. An enemy of the United States might try and degrade the capacity and public trust within our intelligence apparatus. It might use propaganda and weaponised information. It might seek to engage in fraud or other criminal acts to sway an election in their favour.

    Does any of that sound familiar?

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  7. This Fox News article reveals the right and wrong Conservative attitude and response to Trump (according to my opinion of right and wrong). The article is about Project Lincoln, a group of Never Trumpers, who are aiming to oust Senate Republicans. Some Republicans feel they are crossing the line, in doing this, but I strongly disagree. First, here’s the thing of those who are angry:

    He (Matt Mackowiak, veteran GOP communications strategist) charged that “to me, it proves that this is a Democratic-funded effort. These operatives are being used to advance the Democrats’ political agenda. They’re going to wrap themselves in moral superiority but the net effect of all this is that they’re giving Democrats everything they want and they’re spending Democratic donor money to do it.”

    Problem: Trump supporters will support a corrupt, demagogue, ignorant, authoritarian for policy wins, and to prevent the Democrats from implementing their policies. In my eyes, this makes the Trump supporters totally unfit.

    Brian Walsh argued that The Lincoln Project is “taking it too far. If you’re also grouping in Republican senators who could rightfully serve as a necessary check and balance if the White House changes hands in November. It’s hard to understand the strategy behind saying you’re inherently a Republican organization but you want to give full control of the government to the Democrats in November.”

    The Republican Senators utterly failed in fulfilling their responsibilities as a check and balance to Trump. These essentially protected a grossly unfit president–a president who will abuse his office to stay in power.

    What these guys don’t get in my opinion, is that the Republican party–and more importantly, the U.S. government–will not function if the Cosnervative is Trumpian (read: no longer conservative).

    John Weaver, one of the Project Lincoln guys, reveals the right attitude to me:

    This president’s actions are possible only with the craven acquiescence of congressional Republicans,” the group wrote at the time. “Congressional Republicans have embraced and copied Mr. Trump’s cruelty and defended and even adopted his corruption. Mr. Trump and his enablers have abandoned conservatism and longstanding Republican principles and replaced it with Trumpism, an empty faith led by a bogus prophet.”

    Weaver told Fox News that “if four or five members of the Republican Senate Conference had stood up to Trump on a whole host of issues, they would have corralled much of this.”

    But he argued many Republican lawmakers are “afraid of being tweeted at and afraid of being given a nickname and in so doing, they’ve turned their back on everything they say they believed in. They’ve turned their back on a cogent national security policy, on trade policy, on the rule of law, on defending the Constitution, on character matters, they seemingly must not care about the importance of NATO or any number of other things because otherwise they would stand up to Trump.”

    If only a handful of Senate Republicans behaved like these Project Lincoln guys–they could possibly have saved the Republican party and saved the country. They’d be real American heroes in my book.

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  8. New Book Claims Sean Hannity Said He Thinks Trump is Crazy

    This is the new book by CNN’s Brian Stelter. Stelter said a good friend of Hannity’s told him this. Stelter reports that Fox executives worried about Trump’s mental capacity/fitness. If true, this makes me think of Stuart Stevens’s new book about the Republican party–It Was All a Lie. Fox News is first and foremost about money and power, not principles or patriotism. It’s sickening.

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  9. I recommend watching this. It’s taken too long for someone to say what former Australian Prime Minister says here. It needs to be said more often–and not just about the damage Fox News has done regarding climate change, but to liberal democracy as well.

    2/5/2021

    Someone else made the remark that Murdoch is strictly about money. I agree. He doesn’t care about conservative principles. As Stuart Stevens likes to say, “It was all a lie.” Murdoch doesn’t care about liberal-democracy. In the context of our liberal democracy, Murdoch is a very bad, destructive individual.

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  10. Did anything comparable occur with the the major news networks?

    I don’t get why Fox News is not treated with more derision from other professional journalist–why they’re not considered outside the mainstream. I would like to see professional journalists articulate the standards and norms for their profession. Those outlets, conservative, liberal, or whatever, that violate these should be face repercussions to their reputation and their standing among journalists.

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    1. Fox News is careful to separate and articulate the separation of the news division and the commentary division. I’m not paying close attention because my energies are better put to use elsewhere, but I sense the news division (Chris Wallace and others), which supposedly operates independently of the commentary and opinon division, practices good journalism, which might be why you aren’t hearing anyone hold it to the accountability you’re asking about.

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    2. I think there is some truth to what you say–and I think it can be applied to the WSJ as well, although the contrast between their news side and editorial side seemed starker–i.e., the news side did reporting that revealed a lot of problems with the Trump administration, while their editorial side were shameless defenders of Trump. I don’t get the sense that the news section at Fox News was as rigorous.

      But let’s assume it was. There should be some standards for the editorial side as well, and the outlets should take a bit hit in reputation if they violate those standards. Hannity kept pushing the Seth Rich conspiracy theory had been debunked and the family asked they stop pushing it. I believe a reporter who worked for Fox also did reporting that supported the story initially, but I could be wrong about that.

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  11. GOP NBBF (Nothing But Bad Faith)

    The problem isn’t just that these are smears, but that the ostensible concern or even outrage over these incidents has been shown to be completely bogus–given their tolerance of Trump’s corruption, negligence in national security and public health–also deficits—and that’s just off the top of my head.

    I’m going to vomit when the GOP starts criticizing and attacking Biden for far less than what the tolerated with Trump.

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  13. ‘When do we get to use the guns?’: The ongoing danger of false fraud claims WaPo analysis by Philip Bump.

    That quote is something someone said at a recent right wing event. It was a question asked by someone at the event. Here is more of what he said:

    “At this point, we’re living under corporate and medical fascism. This is tyranny,” he said. “When do we get to use the guns?”

    Members of the audience applauded.

    “No, and I’m not — that’s not a joke,” he continued. “I’m not saying it like that. I mean, literally, where’s the line? How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?”

    (emphasis added)

    Now, remember this when you watch the following interview with Senator Roy Blunt and a similar clip with Senator Chuck Grassley:

    They both believe Biden won–and that Trump is lying. People like them are the most important voices to counteract Trump’s lies, and de-escalate the situation among the Republican rank-and-file. The country needs their voices to protect out democracy, but they’re totally failing.

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    1. With McConnell, I do not know the point at which he’d sacrifice his or his party’s interests for the country’s interests. What I do know is that a POTUS of his party being responsible for an insurrection is not that point. Evidence 562 that McConnell is one of the worst Americans in my lifetime.

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  14. Fox News Doesn’t Want to Lose Viewers by Airing the 1/6 Committee Hearing

    A portion of Jay Rosen’s twitter thread:

    A few notes about Fox deciding not to carry this week’s January 6th commitee hearing on FNC:

    • Under U.S. law, freedom of the press means that Fox absolutely has the right to do this.
    • The hearings are news by any reasonable standard. (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN will all carry.)
    • Among people who produce news for a living, agreement on the basic news worthiness of the hearings would probably reach 95 percent. (My guess.)
    • Among those people there should be no question that Fox is not a news network at its core, but something different.
    • I assure you that CBS is not expecting Thursday’s prime-time hearing to be a ratings winner. They are carrying it to maintain legitimacy as a private business that occasionally recognizes a duty to the public sphere. And not to do so would be a blow to their news division.
    • Fox is trying to maintain legitimacy, as well, not as a news network, or as a business with occasional public sphere duties, but its legitimacy with core viewers. It has made the call that the committed audience won’t stand for having the hearings “shoved down our throats.”
    • Another way to put it: By not carrying Thursday’s hearing Fox is standing up for the rights of its viewers— more specifically, the right not to know. Not to see.
    • There is a kind of perverse public service standard there. Fox is protecting its public from the news.

    Comment: Even with this qualifier, I think using “public service standard” is inappropriate. They’re not covering the hearings primarily for business reasons. They don’t want to lose their audience–not only because their audience wouldn’t want to see this, but professional and responsible coverage of the hearings would expose and discredit their most popular pundits. Murdoch can’t afford to do this.

    As a result, their perpetuating falsehoods or hiding truths–both of which pose a danger to our republic. That Murdoch is allowed to do this is a massive failing in our society in my view. I don’t see understand why professionals from other outlets don’t treat them like pariahs.

    The Atlantic’s David French’s recent newsletter illustrates the damage caused by Murdoch–particularly with his decision to downplay or avoid covering many of Trump’s misdeeds:

    Here’s one thing I understand—one thing that’s directly relevant to the prime-time hearings about January 6: Rank-and-file Republicans are shockingly ignorant of Trump’s misdeeds. It is simply not the case that they understand everything that Trump has done and support him anyway. They have far, far more knowledge of Democratic misconduct and media malfeasance than they have of anything Trump has done.

    French’s claim is largely anecdotal (as far as I can tell), based on his experiences living in a red state and talking to his neighbors, friends and relatives, most of whom support Trump. Still, his claim is not hard to believe, and if true, it shows the harm and danger Murdoch is inflicting our republic.

    Later French summarizes the perception of 1/6 insurrection that he believes many Trump supporters hold:

    …the narrative runs something like this: The election had lots of problems, and it was legitimate for Trump to bring his multiple legal challenges to the outcome. There was no reason to trust the reported vote totals from heavily Democratic counties. The riot on January 6 was wrong, but the reaction to it has been extreme. The riot never presented a real threat to the election outcome, and the government is treating January 6 protesters far worse than it treated violent Black Lives Matter protesters after the wave of riots that swept American cities in 2020.

    This is believable to me–if Conservative outlets are downplaying Trump’s misdeeds, defending him and portraying Democrats as a significant threat to the country. And I know many GOP politicians and party leaders have pushed this narrative. Imagine if they behaved like Liz Cheney–especially earlier in the Trump administration. I’m sure there would be Americans who held the narrative French describes, but I really think those numbers would be a lot smaller.

    (What galls me: Most pundits at Fox and Congressional Republicans know better–but for the sake of money and power they’re deceiving their audience and voters, respectively.)

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